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"W  M;"  *V':'*t>:> 


THE  HISTORY  OF  IRELAND 

TO  THE  COMING  OF  HENRY  H. 


THE 


HISTORY  OF  IRELAND 


TO  THE  COMING  OF  HENRY  H. 


BY 

ARTHUR    UA    CLERIGH,    M.A.,    K.C. 


VOL.    I. 


.  t  '^^ 


\  6  \ 


LONDON : 
T.    FISHER    UNWIN 

Adelphi  Terrace 

\All  rights  re  served. '\ 


3)1^ 


R 


U 


SKALY,    1:HYERS    AND    WALKER 

MIOni.E     ABBEY     STRKKT 

I>tlBLT>*. 


PREFACE. 

This  volume  is  the  fruit  of  many  years'  labour.  I  have 
to  the  best  of  my  ability  made  every  point  the  subject 
of  independent  inquiry  and  written  it  in  great  part  ex 
messibtts  meis.  I  have  not  worked  in  the  expectation 
of  literary  fame  or  pecuniary  profit,  but  because  I  had 
been  convinced  from  early  manhood  that  no  greater 
service  could  be  done  to  the  Irish  race  at  home  and 
abroad  than  to  tell  them  the  naked  truth  as  far  as  it 
can  be  ascertained  about  their  early  history.  This  will, 
no  doubt,  dispel  many  illusions  which  they  will  be 
loath  to  part  with  ;  but  on  the  other  hand,  unless  I 
greatly  deceive  myself,  it  will  convey  lessons  of  high 
political  import  which  they  may  take  hopefully  to 
heart.  The  early  history  of  Ireland  is  a  story  of 
arrested  evolution. 

ARTHUR  UA  CLERIGH. 


CONTENTS. 


Chap. 

L- 

II.- 

III.- 

IV.- 

V.- 

VL- 

VIL- 

VllL- 

IX.- 

X.- 

XI.- 

XII.- 

XIII.- 

XIV.- 

XV.- 

XVI.- 

XVII.- 

sj^yiii.- 

XIX.- 

XX.- 

XXI.- 

XXII.- 

XXIII.- 

XXIV.- 

XXV.- 

XXVI.- 

XXVII.- 


-Before  the  Coming  of  the  Gael 

-What  Our  Texts  Say 

-The  Coming  of  the  Gael     ... 

-The  Gael    ...  ...  •«•  •••  ••■ 

-DfelRDRE        ... 

-Cuchulainn 

-Finn  mac  Cumhail  ... 

-Glastonbury  of  the  Gael    ... 

-The  Coming  of  St,  Patrick — I. 

-The  Coming  of  St.  Patrick — 11. 

-The  Patrician  Documents    ... 

-The     Religion     of     the     Gael     Before     St 

Patrick — I. 
•The     Religion     of     the     Gael     Before     St 

Patrick — II. 
-The  Senchus  Mor  and  the  Tribal  System    ... 
-The  Tribal  Occupier  and  Sir  John  Davis    .. 
-The  Lia  Fail — The  Stone  of  Destiny 
-Cuildreimhne  and  the  Desertion  of  Tara    ... 
-The  Northmen 
-A  Winter  Circuit  ... 
-Brian  Boru 
-Clontarf    ... 

-The  Organisation  of  the  Church     ... 
■The  Monks     ... 
-The  Teaching  of  the  Nations 
-The  Sect  of  the  Scots 
-The  Emerald  Ring 
-The  Cymro-Frankish  Adventurers    ... 


Page 

I 

39 

49 
6i 

72 

87 

107 

131 
148 

164 
185 

200 
212 
236 
246 

257 


...  2.29  ., 

..l^  290  y 

•••  303 

...  314 

—  330 

-  345 

•••  363 

...  380 

•••  395 


THE  PRONUNCIATION  OF  GAELIC. 

In  the  Gaelic  alphabet  there  are  i8  letters. 

5  Vowels — a,  o,  u,  broad,  e,  i,  slender. 

Each  vowel  may  be  long  or  short :  long  as  in  Half  pay  he 
thought  so  poor ;  short  as  in  That  bell  is  not  mftch  good. 

Vowel  Groups.  Ae  and  ad  =  ae  ;  e<5  long  =  yo  ;  eo  short  =  yu  ; 
HI  long  =  ew ;  ui  short  =  yu. 

Ai,  ei,  61,  Ae,  e-A,  e^,  lAi.  The  sound  of  the  long  vowel  is 
given  to  the  whole  digraph. 

The  addition  oft,  e.g.,  ^1,  does  not  change  the  vowel  sound. 

Short  Digraphs.  A\  and  e-A  short  =  a  in  bat.  Gi  or  01  =  e  in 
let.     I0  and  ui  =  i  in  hit. 

The  consonants  are  12  ;  liquids,  4,  L,  n,  |\  Cr),  f  (s);  mutes,  9, 
t),  0,  -o,  ^,  5,  IT),  p,  c,  and  ti. 

Aspiration  or  infection  is  a  softening  of  a  consonant,  and  is 
indicated  by  a  puncium  over  the  Gaelic  letter  or  by  the 
addition  of  the  letter  n. 

t)  or  bti  =  v  ;  c  or  ch  in  the  middle  or  end  of  words  sometimes 
=  h  ;  t),  "Oh  and  iti,  mti  alike  =  before  a  broad  vowel,  [a,  o,  u],  an 
indescribable  sound  like  a  guttural  y  and  equal,  before  a  slender 
vowel,  [e,  i],  y  exactly.  In  the  middle  and  end  of  ivords  they  arc 
silent,  but  lengthen  the  preceding  vowel,  e.g.,  CisejriM,  Tigherna 
—  Teerna.  ttl,  mh  =  v  in  the  south  and  w  in  the  north  ;  &Xi  and 
Arh  =  ou;  xjt)  =  ei  in  the  middle  of  a  word  ;  p,  pti  =  f;  f ,  |*ti  =  h  ; 
t.  cli  =  h. 

Eclipsis  (eKBXn^ic,  pushing  away).  A  softer  consonant  is 
substituted  for  a  harder  at  the  beginning  of  a  word  only.  Both 
are  written,  but  only  the  first,  that  is,  the  substituted  one, 
pronounced,  e.g.,  m-bo,  the  b  in  bo,  a  cow,  is  pushed  away  and 
replaced  by  m,  and  m-bo  is  pronounced  mo.  And  so  with 
others,  n  eclipses  -o  and  5  ;  bti,  p  ;  b,  p  ;  5,  c  ;  X),  c  ;  c,  f . 

The  above  short  sketch  is,  of  course,  very  imperfect,  and  only 
intended  to  assist  readers  who  are  unacquainted  with  Gaelic. 


EARLY    IRISH    HISTORY. 


i^'^  CHAPTER   I. 

BEFORE  THE  COMING  OF  THE  GAEL. 

THE  name  Erin^  comes  from  a  root  which  signifies  fat, 
fruitful,  with  special  reference,  it  may  be  supposed,  to  the 
fertility  of  its  pastures.  Pomponius  Mela'^  (fl.  40  a.d.)  says : — 
'•  The  climate  is  unfavourable  for  ripening  cereals,  but  the  land 
is  so  exuberant  in  the  production  of  pasture,  not  only  luxuriant 
but  also  sweet,  that  cattle  can  fill  themselves  in  a  short  part  of  a 
day,  and  unless  they  are  stopped  from  grazing  will  feed  too 
long  and  burst."  So  Solinus  ^  (230  a.d.)  says  : — "  It  is  so 
rich  in  grass  that  the  cattle  would  be  in  danger  from  over- 
eating unless  they  were  kept  at  times  from  the  pasture." 
"  Ireland,"  says  Bede  *  (673-735),  "  is  situated  to  the  west  of 
Britain,  and  as  it  is  shorter  towards  the  north,  so  it  extends 
far  beyond  its  borders  to  the  south.  .  .  .  The  latitude  of 
its  position  and  the  wholesomeness  and  mildness  of  the  air  are 
much  better  than  Britain's,  so  that  snow  rarely  remains  there 
for  more  than  three  days,  and  no  one  mows  hay  there  in 
summer  for  winter  use,  or  makes  houses  for  the  cattle.  No 
reptile  is  seen  there,  no  reptile  can  live  there.  .  .  .  The 
island  is  rich  in  milk  and  honey,  and  is  not  without  vines.     It 

^  According  to  Windisch  the  name  Erin  sen  Erenn  dat  Erin  Ace  Erenn  comes 
from  a  root  which  is  found  in  7n[¥]iov,  feminine  Trinoa,  signifying  fat,  fruitful, 
and  the  Indo-germanio  nominal  suttix — ten.  The  initial  "  p  "  was  not  retained 
by  the  early  Celtic  nations  before  a  vowel,  and  the  vfiaoQ  niiipa  of  the  Greeks 
•would  be  represented  by  Erenn  or  Erin.  The  Greek  name  for  the  island,  how- 
ever, (E.  lipvi],  lovfori^,  was  taken  from  the  Gaelic  Erenn,  and  gave  rise  in  its 
turn  to  the  Latin  Juberna  and  Hiberuia.     See  Holder  Sprachschatz.       iverio. 

^  Pompouius  Mela,  3,  6,  53. 

'  Solinus,  22,  2. 

^  Hibernia  autem  et  latitudine  sui  status  et  salubritate  et  serenitate  aerum 
multum  Brittani?e  praestat.  Bede,  H.E.  L  Laiitudo  is  always,  so  far  as  I 
have  seen,  translated  "  breadth  "  here  erroneously.  Erin  is  not  broader.  It 
means  breadth  from  the  equator.  The  Anglo-Saxon  translator  of  Bede  has 
braedo  haes  stealles  where  braedo  is  equal  to  the  German  "  Breite,"  i.e., 
latitude.  Caesar,  Tacitus,  and  all  the  mediaeval  writers  following  them,  down 
to  and  including  Keating,  held  that  Ireland  lay  between  Britain  and  Spain. 
Ptolemy,  getting  his  information  from  a  Phoenician  source,  placed  it  nearly  in 
its  true  position. 


2  EARLY  IRISH  HISTORY. 

is  famous  for  sport,  fish,  and  fowl,  and  also  goats  and  deer.  It 
is  the  own  country  of  the  Scots."  It  is  a  mistake  to  suppose 
that  Ireland  is  not  also  admirably  fitted  for  the  production  of 
corn,  a  mistake  into  which  modern  writers,  such  as  Kiepert, 
have  also  fallen.  Taking  wheat,  oats,  and  barley,  the  average 
number  of  bushels  to  the  acre  is  at  least  as  high  as  in  England, 
and  the  loss  from  bad  seasons  over  a  period  of  25  years  is  not 
greater  than  in  Russia  or  America.^ 

Something  must  be  said,  though  very  little  is  known,  about 
the  ancient  inhabitants  of  Erin  before  the  coming  of  the  Gael 
(1700  B.C.)     Though  the  men  of  the  old  stone  age  (paleolithic) 
made  their  way  into  England,  there  is  no  evidence  that  they 
ever  reached  Erin,     This  is  the  more  remarkable,  as  in  those 
days  England  was  joined  to  the  Continent,  and  Ireland  to 
England,  by  what  we  may  shortly  describe  as  land  bridges. 
A  shallow  bank  now  runs  from  Denmark  to  the  Bay  of  Biscay, 
^'"•d  to  a  point  about  five  miles  westward  of  Ireland  within 
what  is  known  as  the  100  fathom  limit.     The  elevation  of  this 
bank  made  these  bridges.     Many  of  the  pleistocene  animals 
passed  over  the  bridge  from  the  Continent  into  England,  in- 
cluding paleolithic  man,  whose  implements  are  found  abund- 
antly as  far  west  as  North  and  South    Wales.      A    human 
paleolithic  molar  tooth  has  been  discovered  at  Port  Newydd, 
near  St,  Asaph.  These  paleolithic  animals,  with  the  exception 
of  the  hyena,  and  the  great  sabre-toothed  bear,  passed  over 
from  England  into  Ireland.     Paleolithic  man  did  not  reach 
Erin.     The  depth  of  the  Irish  Sea  is  somewhat  greater  than 
the  depth  of  the  German  Ocean,  and  it  may  have  happened 
that  the  English  bridge  remained  above  water  after  the  Irish 
bridge  had  descended  and  become  a  sea  bottom.     Many  great 
animals,  however,  passed  over.  Amongst  others  the  mammoth, 
the  hippopotamus  (probably),  the  grizzly  bear,  the  brown  bear, 
the  reindeer,  the  great  Irish  deer,  the  red  deer,  the  wild  boar, 
the  wolf,  the  horse,  the  fox,  and  the  badger.     These  have  left 
their  bones  in  caves  or  under  peat  bogs  to  record  their  presence 
in  prehistoric  times, 

^  Documents  in  connection  with  the  shipment  of  corn  from  Ireland  to  France 
in  the  years  1297-8  a.d.  may  be  seen  in  fac-simile  MS.  Plate  S3,  Gilbert,  Sir  J. 
The  value  of  the  corn  exported  from  Ireland  in  ten  years,  1785-1795,  when 
separate  accounts  were  kept  of  the  Kingdoms  of  England  and  Ireland,  visa 
^4,256,360.  "  A  country  which  now  begins  to  supply  Britain  with  near  ona 
million  barrels  of  grain  annually."     Newenham,  p.  216  (1809). 


BErOftE  tnE  COMIKG  6V  THE  GAEL.  S 

To  the  men  of  the  old  stone  age  succeeded  the  men  of  the 
new  stone  age  (neolithic)  whether  immediately  or  after  an 
interval,   or  at   what   time  or   times  cannot   be   stated  with 
certainty,  but  the  opinion  generally  received  now  is  that  there 
was  no  break,  but  continuous  evolution.     From  these  came  the 
first  inhabitants  of  Erin.     It  is  therefore  of  high  importance 
to  know  what  were  the  physical  characteristics  of  the  inhabi- 
tants of  Western  Continental  Europe  in  neolithic  times,  and 
particularly  to  ascertain  whether  they  were  long-skulled  or 
broad-skulled,  dark  or  fair ;  these  being  now  generally  recog- 
nized as  the  most  permanent  characteristics,  and  the  best  test 
of  race.     The  North  of  Western  Europe  was  inhabited  by  men 
with  long  heads,  light  or  blue  eyes,  and  fair  or  reddish  hair. 
From  this  stock  came  the  Gael,  as  we  shall  show  later  on. 
The  South  was  inhabited  by  men  short  in  stature,  with  long 
heads,  dark  hair,  and  dark  eyes.     These  are  divided  by  M. 
D'Arbois  into  a  pre-Ayran  (Iberian)  and  an  Ayran  (Ligurian) 
race.     The  centre  of  France  and  westward  through  Brittany 
to  the  sea,  was  inhabited  by  an  intrusive  belt  of  men  from  the 
east,  short  in  stature,  with  broad  skulls,  dark  hair,  and  dark 
eyes,  whom  CiEsar  refers  to  as  Celts,  and  who  are  sometimes 
called  the  Black  Celts.     It  may  be  affirmed  unhesitatingly 
that  no  otf-shoot  from  this  stock  ever  came  to  Erin.     There 
are  no  men  of  this  type  except  ethnic  strays  to  be  found 
amongst  the  population  of  Ireland  in  our  times.     Nor  is  it 
difficult  to  understand  how  this  came  about.     A  glance  at  a 
map  of  Europe  will  show  that  the  men  of  this  central  belt  in 
France  were  likely  to  cross  the  channel  into  England,  and, 
no  doubt,  they  did  so ;  and  are  in  all  likelihood  the  men  who, 
whether  pure  or  blended    with  long  heads,  have  left  their 
broad  skulls  in  the  round  barrows  of  England.     An  island  is 
colonized,  as  a  rule,  from  Continental  parts  directly  opposite 
to  it.     But  where  one  island  lies  behind  another  it  is  more 
reasonable  to  suppose  that  migratory  tribes  would  pass  round 
the  nearer  island  from  Continental  parts  above  and  below  the 
nearer  island  to  reach  that  which  was  more  remote.     The  first 
inhabitants  of  Erin  came  from  one  or  both  of  the  dark  long- 
headed southern   races.     These   passed   round   the   south  of 
England,  and  are  now  represented  by  the  southern  Welsh  and 
the   short   dark   population   in   the   west  and   south-west  of 


4  EARLY  lEISH  HISTORY. 

Ireland.  In  England  they  combined  probably  with  the  long 
heads  of  the  long  barrows.  From  these  two  races  the  main 
bulk  of  the  population  of  Erin  was  derived  before  the  coming 
of  the  Gael.  They  correspond  with  the  first  four  "  occupations," 
or  "  settlements,"  ^xxb^l^,  of  our  texts. 

The  fifth  "  occupation  "  was  by  the  Gael  or  Milesians.  They 
were  tall  men,  with  long  skulls  and   red,  golden-yellow,  or 
flaxen  hair.     They  came   from   the   Netherlands,   the  Elbe, 
Sleswick  and  Holstein,  and  the  recesses  of  the  Baltic  coast. 
Our  texts  agree  in  stating  that  the  Gael  as  well  as  the  previous 
occupants  all  spoke  the  Celtic  tongue,  and  they  are  supported 
in  this  by  the  circumstance  that  no  place  names  of  a  different 
lansfuao-e  have  been  detected.     It  is  for  this  reason  that  the 
Irish  came  to  be  commonly  referred  to  as  Celts.     But  language 
is  no  test  of  race,  though  linguistic  evidence  is  of  high  import- 
ance when  soberly  used  for  historic  purposes.     In  the  time  of 
Csesar,  the  inhabitants  of  central  France  and  the  Belgic  dis- 
trict of  Celtic  Gaul  spoke  a    Celtic  tongue,  and  the  Celtic 
tongue  at  one  time  extended  far    east   beyond   the   Rhine. 
Possibly  the  intrusive  Celts,  as  the   result  of  conquest  and 
commerce,  gradually  communicated  their  language  to  their 
neighbours  on  the  north  and  the  south,  and  in  this  way  the 
Iberi  and  the  Ligures  came   to  adopt  the  Celtic  language. 
Csesar  tells  us  the  Gauls  brought  their  names  to  Britain  : — ■ 
The  Belgse  in  the  south-east,  the  Parisii  on  the  Humber,  the 
Atrebates  in  Berks.     With  the  immigrants  from  the  northern 
race  the  same  thing  occurred.     In  the  second  chapter  of  his 
Geography,  in  which  he  deals  with  the  British  Isles,  Ptolemy 
(140  A.D.)  mentions  the  Brigantes  in  the  south  of  lerne,  and 
the  Chauci,  the  Menapii  and  the  Eblani  on  the  coast.*^ 

Evidence  of  a  similar  kind  is  not  wanting  for  an  earlier 
period.  The  most  important  of  the  pre-Gaelic  "  occupations  " 
(5At»x^lA)  was  the  immigration  of  the  Fir-Volcre,  commonly 
called  Fir-bolgs,  a  sub-denomination  of  which  was  the  o-reat 
iribe  of  the  Cat  or  Cathraige,  of  which  Cairbro  Cinnceat 
became  the  head,  as  we  shall  see  later  on.     The  word  Bolg 

•>  Dublin  does  not,  as  some  have  thought,  represent  the  Eblani  or  their 
capital.  The  words  do  not  equate  phonetically.  Dublin  was  founded  by  the 
Danes  near  the  black  pool  of  the  Lifley  ('Oiib  tinn),  from  which  it  derives  ita 
name.  The  Eblani  wure  probably  the  Elbani  immigrants  from  the  river  Albis 
or  Elbe. 


BEFORE  THE  COMING  OF  THE  GAEL,  5 

equates   phonetically   with    Vole,    Latinised   Volcfe.      These 
Volca3    were   a   powerful   people  in  the  South   of  France  in 
Caesar's  time,  occupying  the  country  comprised  between  the 
Rhone,  the  Cevennes  and  the  Garonne.     An  outlying  remnant 
of  the  race  then  dwelt  at  the  source  of  the  Danube,  on  the 
borders  of  the  Ilercynian  Forest.     At  an  earlier  period,  it  is 
supposed,  they  occupied  a  large  part  of  Central  Europe,  and 
thus   the   two   cities   of   "  Lug "   Lyons    (Lug.    dunum)   and 
Leyden  (Lug.   dunum  Batavorum)  belonged  to  them.     They 
were  cut  in  two  and  displaced  by  the  intrusive  wedge  of  the 
ethnic  Celts  we  have  referred  to.  There  was  also  another  Lusf- 
dunum  (Convenarum),  now  St.  Bertrand  de  Comminges  (Haute 
Garonne),  Lug-dunum  Remorum  (Laon)  and  others.      Now  in 
modern  Irish  "  Lugnasad  "  means  the  month  of  August.       In 
that  month  was   celebrated  the  commemoration   (nasad)    or 
anniversary    of    Lug  at  Tailtinn,  now  Teltown,    in    Meath. 
According  to  our  texts  Lug  was  the  foster  son  of  Tailtin,  the 
wife  of  the  Firbolg  King  Eocaid,  the  son  of  Ere.      He  appears 
in  the  legend  as  Lug  of  the  long  hand,  and  is  said  to  have 
instituted  this  celebration  in  honour  of  Tailtiu,  from  whom 
Tailtinn  is  named.    The  "  nasad  "  or  commemoration,  however, 
was  not  of  Tailtiu,  but  of  Lug  ^  himself,  and  M.  D'Arbois  is  of 
opinion  that  there  was  a  similar  "  nasad "  of  Lug  at  Lyoais, 
which  preceded  the  establishment  of  the  Feast  of  Augustus. 
The  latter  was  celebrated  on  the  1st  of  August,  and  was,  M. 
D'Arbois^  thinks,  substituted  for  the  Feast  of  Lug.      The  fair 
of    Tailtinn,   altered   from    time    to   time   in    its   character, 
continued  to  be  held  on  the  1st  of  August  in  every  year  until 
the   commencement  of  the  last    century.      As    regards    the 
Cathraige,  in  the  time  of  Cffisar  they  dwelt  in  the  valleys  of 
the  Durance  and  Isere,  near  Embrun,  and   Chorges,  in  which 
latter  the  old  name  "  Caturiges  "  is  preserved.  The  terminals 
ri.c,  raighe,  mean  simply  "  tribesman"  not  "king." 

In  the  "  Coir  Anmam"  traighe  is  glossed  cineal, -i.e.  tribes. 
Cath,  or  "  cat,"  means  "  battle,"  and  there  are  at  Chorges  two 
inscriptions,  "  Cat  "  and  "  Cathreg,"  still  retaining  vestiges  of 

■^  Assemblees  Publiques  d'Irlande. 

^M.  D'Arbois  compares  the  statement  of  Caesar  as  regards  Mercury,  the 
Roman  equivalent  of  Lug  : — Hunc  {i.e.,  Mercury  or  Lug.)  omnium  inventorum 
artium  ferunt,  with  tlie  Samh-il-danach — aufnro\vTf)(^voi;  "  Master  Of  all  art§." 
Lugus  was  the  god  of  light,  the  Sun  god, 


6  EAF.IY  IRT^TH  BI5TOBY. 

the  old  nama  I-  Erin  the  ''  Cath  "  tiib^  are  found  firom  the 
barony  of  Gary  _  riige),  in  Antrim,  to  Iniscathy  (Inis 
Scatteiy),  in  the  csiiiary  of  the  Shannon.  McFirbis  reckons 
them  amongst  thr  F  '.s-  He  men::  -  V:  Cithiaigeof 
the  Crnithne,  fr    _         —  Cairbre  Cumc-  '        ::  ied,  and 

the  Cathraige   ^^:  -^      ^  :ek  amongst  -      r_       ^^  i  "a 

mipeATin "  (the  Stone    :  ^  iTision),  whi :  .   : 

centre  of  Ireland,  an^.  is.  in  fict,  onlv  _    rs  : 

&om  it,  was  also  :..ll7.1  _  Oarraig  Coitrighe  in  the  Book  of 
Armagh. 

InS:  :   .1--  :_     i  ^.is        —  .Lr  earliest  times  a  powerful 
people  ^  -  .:■  if  I  C.:.::_r-f  ss  in  which  the  name  is,  probably, 

preserve  i       .  .    -  .  _  : -- .   T_r  We5:cr:i  is.  .-i    -    which 

were  eaUea  tnfi  c^c      ^  -  -  -  ""  Cait,'  and  aescribed 

in  the  legend  as    irs:       .       :  r    of  :r.T    £  i-s  of 

Crnithne.     They     :  ^  t.?.,  T  Cat 

mentioned  by  Am  _  ._  ._..:;  -  r  r  f  "r  ._  s  m 
connection  with  :_     ^;    .  i^:^:    :.   _     /_    _       1     .:  _. 

says  (27.8.5):  "T_r  :  .  _  -  _  _i  :!--.:  __  -^:  :i, 
harrassed  the  Bri::i--  -    rtoal  harryings." 

Anda^ain: — "T_    1:.  i      ivided  into  t^    ::i     ;    .   nt-es) 
:iir  iDicalydones  and  Yen'j.r   ;:,=,  also  the  A:.:.:  i^ 

.rir      :  —  :^  '    hominiLm    natio)    and    :iir     ^  ::i, 

\i_ir;T  i  i       It  (i.e.,  through  Britain),  and  i  .  :e 

ins.       These  are.  no  doubt,  also  the  Attacoi  rrferred 
io  oy  St.  Jerome  (342-420)  in  the  feimo  .  ^  ;    ra  about 

to  cite.  He  refers  to  a  sojourn  he  made  a;  ircves.  in  GrauL 
TrereiS,  where  the  iElmperor  Yalentiman  T  —  ?  -i_  :n  residing, 
is  placed  by  Ausonius  as  fourth  in  h:;  i  c  _■  i.ic  ciiies.  It 
was  on  the  right  bank  of  the  iMiosellr  _-  capital  of  that  divi- 
sion of  Gaul,  and  the  regular  imp-:,  i  r  siience:  "When  I 
was  a  young  man,"  he  writes,  '"I  s.  i-  Aiticoti,  a  British 
tribe  [who  were  said  to]  est  i  :„  :    r  ::,nd  though  they 

would  find  iu  the  woods  herd;  :  _t  :%:l  i  lattle,  to  be  used, 
to  cut  off  the  buttocks  ::  i_t_  ^-'^  ihe  buttocks  and  paps  of 
women,  and  to  cons:     .    L     r  tiie  only  tit  bits."  * 

<aeebaBntiir|    .i       ,  ei  com  pe:  jrs    er 

t^sjssXfxvm. '^  z .  _r   -r  -;..        -■  ' -_    -  _„   r".   oipulas 

ai^ae   aisd rcr    e:    :^^-    >. -^r  :.:.rii»j3    y. 


EEFOF.E  rE"  COMIXG  OF  THE  GAEL.  7 

The  words  in  brackets  "  who  were  said  to — qui  dicehantar 
do  not  appear  in  any  MS.     It  may  have  been  the  omission  of 
the  writer  himself  or  of  a  scribe  to  whom  he  dictated.  Jerome 
refers  to  the  time  he  was  at  Treves,  where  some  Attacoti  in 
the  Roman  Army  were  stationed.     That  he  meant  to  say  he 
saw  them  slicing  men  and  women  in  the  way  he  mentions 
openly  in  the  woods  near  Treves  is  not   to  be   thought  o£ 
Besides,  "  viderim  solere    abscindere "  is   neither   sense  nor 
Latin.     The  context  of  the  rest  of  the  Dassaee,  too  long  to  be 
given  here,  shows  that  he  was  dealing  with  matters  of  hearsay. 
And  this  was,  no  doubt,  one  of  the  stories  circulated  by  the 
polished  provincials  of  Augusta  Trevirorum  about  the  habits 
and  practices  of  the  wild  barbarians  from  Caledonia  when  on 
their  native  heath.     In  the  alternative  we  should  conclude 
that  the  statement  was  a  hallucination  of  the  desert. 

It  is  not  possible  to  assign  a  date  to  the  commencement  of 
the  neolithic  or  polished  stone  age.  Lyall  thinks  it  may  have 
ksted  10,000  years.  It  was  succeeded  in  some  places  by  a 
copper  age  for  a  brief  period,  and  then  by  the  bronze  age,  the 
commencement  of  which  is  fixed  by  Montelius  for  Scandinavia 
at  1450  B.C.  If  we  suppose  it  arrived  somewhat  earlier  m 
Erin  it  will  bring  us  to  1700  B.C.,  the  date  assigned  by  the 
Four  Masters  for  the  coming  of  Grokmh  (the  soldier)  and  the 
GaeL  It  was  during  the  neolithic  time  that  the  "  Dobnens  " 
were  built  in  Erin  The  word  '-Dolmen"  is  derived  from  the 
Breton  "dol"  (supposed  to  be  a  loan  word  from  the  Latin 
"  tabula,"  a  table),  and  "  maen,"  a  stone.  In  its  inception  it 
was  a  deadhouse  of  peculiar  construction,  built  overground, 
an  imitation  of  a  cave.  XeoKthic  man  in  earlv  times,  livinsr 
in  a  cave  himself,  provided  a  similar  abode  for  the  departed. 
In  the  case  of  paleolithic  man  a  few  traces  only  of  burial  by 
inhumation  have  ye:  been  discovered.  In  the  neolithic  age 
we  mav  su'opose  a  time  when  the  bones  oi  the  dead  were 
collected  after  the  flesh  had  been  removed  by  beasts  or  birds, 
or  the  action  of  the  weather.  "We  find  a  survival  of  this  prac- 
tice at  the  present  day  in  the  custom  of  the  Parsees.  Their 
sacred  book,  the  Ahura  Masdi,  however,  allowed  them  the 
option  of  either  inhuming  or  exposing  the  dead,  and  a  few  of 
the  Parsees  in  Bombay  exercise  this  option  of  inhuming  at  the 
present  day.     Inhumation,  decamation,  mummification,  burial 


8  EARLY    IBISH    HISTORY. 

in  various  postures,  &c  ,  were  practised  in  various  places,  and 
finally,  incineration.  Many  of  these  modes  were  practised  in 
Erin,  We  need  only  refer  particularly  to  incineration.  It  is 
supposed  to  have  come  with  the  Ethnic  Celts  from  the  East. 
Pothier^*'  has  given  maps  showing  the  route  from  the  Pamirs 
to  Brittany.  From  the  mountains  of  Central  France  these 
Celts  sent  offshoots  to  the  Pyrenees  on  the  south  and  Danemark 
on  the  north.  Burials  by  incineration  are  placed  over  the 
earlier  forms  or  found  cotemporaneous  in  the  same  tomb  in 
France  and  elsewhere. 

And  the  same  probably  occurred  in  the  case  of  Erin,  where 
incineration  was  extensively  practised  cotemporaneously  with 
other  modes  of  burial.      In  the  Carrowmore  group,  near  Sligo, 
the  most  remarkable  in  Erin,  where  possibly  the  victors  at 
the  second  Moj'^tura  battle  and  their  descendants  found  a  resting 
place,  the  graves  reveal,  in  most  cases  where  any  remains  are 
found,  the  presence  of  calcined  bones  or  urns,  or  other  proofs 
of  burial  by  incineration.     There  are  no  round  barrows  indi- 
cating the  presence  of  round  heads  in  Erin.     It  is  certain  that 
these  round  heads  occupied  the  valleys  of  the  Loire  and  the 
Seine  until  they  were  driven  back  into  the  mountain  lands  by 
the  invasion  of  the  fair-haired,  blue-eyed  long  heads  from  the 
North,  of  which  stock  were  the  Gael,  who  practised  inhuma- 
tion.     It  has  been  observed  that  incineration  brought  with  it 
a  more  spiritual  conception  regarding  the  future  life.    Instead 
of  the  ghoul-like  existence'  which  the  departed  were  supposed 
to  lead,  enduring  a  shadow  life  as  strengthless  skulls  in  the 
deadhouse  of  the  dolmen  builder,  the  spirit  was  supposed  to 
pass  from  the  prison-house  of  earthly  corruption,  purified  by 
fire,  into  the  fairy  land  within   the  elfmound  (sidh),  or  the 
mountain,  into  spacious  palaces  glittering  with  gold  and  gems. 
And  this  is  the  existence  into  which  the  tribes  of  the  Dedanann 
passed  according  to  our  legends  after  their  defeat  and  destruc- 
tion by  the  Gael. 

The  construction  of  the  dolmens  showed  much  variety  and 
development,  the  details  of  which  will  be  found  in  Mr.  Borlase's 
monumental  work.  The  earliest  form  appears  to  have  been 
what  was  known  as  a  cromlech — one  large  unhewn  stone  placed 

J*  Fpi-Ui^f  S,  Lcii  Populatius  primitives,  1897. 


BEFORE  THE  COMING  OF  THE  GAEL.  9 

on  two  or  more  unhewn  upright  stones  forming  a  sort  of  cave 
with  a  narrow  entrance.  This  covering  stone  was  often  of 
immense  size.  The  covering  stone  of  the  dolmen  or  cromlech 
at  Mount  Brown  (Carlow)  weighs  by  estimation  100  tons,  that 
at  Carriglass  (Sligo)  73  tons,  and  the  stone  at  Howth  (Dublin) 
70  tons.  Men  are  puzzled  to  account  for  how  with  primitive 
appliances  such  cap-stones  could  be  moved  into  position. 
Mortillet  divides  this  form  into  two  parts  ;  the  cave  portion  he 
calls  an  "  allee  couverte,"  the  entrance  portion  a  "  vestibule." 
The  entrance  in  the  next  form  appears  elongated,  and  several 
roofing  stones  were  used  with  a  slope  upwards  over  the  cave 
proper.  This  was  the  form  of  Dolmen,  commonly  called  the 
"  Giant's  Grave."  In  France  Mortillet  terms  them  "  caveaux  "  ^^ 
(vaults  or  cells)  with  long  entrance  passages  (couloirs  d'acces) 
The  entrance  and  passages  to  both  these  classes  were  open  or 
capable  of  being  opened,  though  sometimes  only  two  or  three 
feet  high,  and  the  cave  could  be  reached  through  them.  There 
was  a  third  form  that  had  no  entrance  or  passage  into  it — the 
Cist.  It  was  a  large  rectangular  space  lined  with  unhewn 
upright  stones  and  roofed  with  several  unhewn  stones  flagwise, 
placed  within  a  mound  or  cairn  of  stones.  Mortillet  calls  these 
*'  caisses." 

For  the  student  of  the  early  developments  of  dolmen 
building  and  the  accompanying  cultus  of  the  dead  there  is 
no  country  so  rich  in  interest  as  France.  Mortillet  adduces 
ovidence  "  that  no  fewer  than  twenty-four  natural  caves  have 
been  discovered  in  France  which  had  served  the  purpose  of 
sepulchral  vaults  to  a  population  living  in  the  neolithic  age." 
He  adds  that  "  the  accompaniments  of  the  dead  as  well  as 
certain  indications  bearing  on  the  nature  of  the  rites  performed 
at  the  sepulchre  were  identical  with  what  was  found  in  connec- 
tion with  the  dolmens,  so  that  the  latter  may  be  supposed 
to  have  taken  the  place  of  the  natural  caves."  France  has  the 
highest  claims  to  be  considered  the  place  of  origin  of  the 
dolmen,  at  least  for  Western  Europe.  The  three  types  are 
well  represented,  the  first  in  Central  France,  the  valley  of  the 
Loire  and  Seine,  the  second  in  Brittany,  the  third  in  Logere, 
Aveyron,  Ardeche,  and  Lozere.  Dolmens  are  rare  in  the  East 
and   North  of  France.     All   three   types  are  represented  in 

11  gee  Borlase,         "  The  Polmeu9  of  Ireland,"  ii.,  p.  5G7,  1897, 


10  EARLY   IRISH   HISTORY. 

Ireland  ;  the  first  in  long,  large  dolmens  like  that  at  Labbacallee 
in  Cork,  the  second  by  the  great  tumulus  at  New  Grange, 
in  Meath,  in  which  is  to  be  found  an  architectural  ampli- 
fication as  regards  the  roof  not  present  in  Brittany ;  the 
"  caisses  "  of  the  third  type  are  comparable  to  the  dolmens  in 
Clare.  In  Ireland  there  is  also  another  type— the  dolmen  cairn 
or  dolmen  circle  to  be  seen  at  Carrowmore  and  elsewhere,  and 
also  on  the  coast  of  Cornwall  where  the  dolmens  are  identical 
in  type  with  those  of  Ireland.  Dolmens  of  these  types  are 
widely  spread  over  the  globe,  but  are  not  to  be  found 
everywhere,  as  is  sometimes  supposed.  Their  distribution  is 
curious.  From  France  they  pass  into  Spain,  Morocco,  Algiers, 
Tunis,  the  Caucasus,  Palestine,  the  North  of  Persia,  and  India. 
They  are  not  found  on  the  Mediterranean  east  of  Corsica, 
nor  in  Tripoli,  Egypt,  Asia  Minor,  Greece,  Italy,  or  the  valley 
of  the  Danube.  Borlase  ^'^  reckons  a  total  of  780  dolmens  for 
Ireland,  the  distribution  of  which  is  very  remarkable.  On 
the  East  coast  there  are  only  77,  of  which  Wexford  counts  for 
2,  Wicklow  9,  Dublin  14,  Louth  4,  Down  19,  and  Antrim  29. 
On  the  West  coast  there  are  436,  of  which  Kerry  counts  for 
22,  Clare  for  94,  Galway  for  30,  Mayo  45,  Sligo  163,  and  Donegal 
for  82,  showing  thus  a  remarkable  preponderance  of  dolmens 
on  the  West  coast.  Besides  the  dolmens  Borlase  reckons  50 
chambered  tumuli  differing  from  the  dolmens  constructively 
in  the  circumstance  that  the  roof  is  not  formed  by  a  single 
slab  but  by  successive  layers  of  slabs  approaching  each  other 
as  they  rise — what  is  commonly  known  as  the  beehive  con- 
struction. Thirty  of  these  chambers  are  found  in  Meath.  such 
as  New  Grange  and  Dowth.  Their  structural  details  prove 
them  to  be  connected  with  the  dolmens  proper,  presumably  in 
relation  to  an  identical  cultus  of  the  dead. 

Borlase  further  observes  that  "  the  occurrence  of  dolmens  in 
Cornwall  and  the  West  of  Wales,  coupled  with  the  fact  of  their 
absence  in  North  England,  and  their  great  scarcity  in  Scotland, 
whilst  the  coasts  of  Ireland  possess  them  in  plenty,  all  tend  to 
give  plausibility  to  a  theory  that  the  route  by  which  those  who 
erected  them  arrived  was  from  the  South,  either  down  the 
English  Channel  or  up  the  western  coast  of  Europe,  and  so 

12  Borlase  Dglmens,  ii.,  418,  567. 


BEFORE  THE  COMING  OF  THE  GAEL.  11 

round  the  Land's  End,  and  up  St.  George's  Channel,  and 
around  the  entire  coast  of  Ireland,  which  island  they  specially 
made  their  own." 

There  are  cup-markings  and  sculpturings  on  the  stones  of 
many  of  these  dolmens,  all  the  world  over,  which  probably  had 
some  religious  motives  underlying  them.  In  Ireland  the  prin- 
cipal sculpturings  are  found  at  the  cairns  and  tumuli  which 
extend  along  the  hills  of  Slieve  na  Caillighe,  for  some  three 
miles  from  East  to  West  north  of  Loughcrew  in  Meath.  Sculp- 
tured stones  are  also  found  at  Clover  Hill,  near  Carrowmore, 
in  Sligo,  at  New  Grange,  Rathkenny,  Castle  Archdale, 
etc.  The  general  character  of  the  sculpturings  or  markings 
are  cup-shaped  hollows,  and  irregularly,  circular,  spiral,  zigzag 
and  wavy  lines,  and  these  lines  are  far  more  elaborate  and 
complicated  at  Loughcrew  and  New  grange  than  elsewhere. 
Art  travelled  from  the  coast  to  the  centre  of  the  island,  making 
progress  on  the  way  from  Carrowmore  to  Slieve  na  Caillighe. 
The  position  of  the  latter  is  central.  From  it  (904  ft.)  can  be 
seen  the  hills  of  Cuailgne,  near  Carlingford  Lough,  on  the  east 
coast,  and  the  hills  near  Sligo  on  the  west.  M.  Emile  Soldi  in 
"  La  Langue  Sacree  le  Mystere  de  la  Creation,"  has  attempted 
to  solve  the  mysteries  that  lie  behind  these  cryptic  symbols 
which  are  more  widely  spread  over  the  world  than  even  the 
dolmens.  His  book  is  very  interesting  and  attractive,  but  it 
is  for  others  better  equipped  than  the  author  of  this  work  to 
sit  in  judgment  on  it.  To  him  it  appears  rather  suggestive 
than  persuasive.  The  Sun,  according  to  the  Sacred  Language, 
is  the  principal  manifestation  of  the  soul  of  the  world — Fire 
the  creator.  It  consists  of  a  soul  or  essence-fire  from  which 
proceed  all  fires,  all  essences,  and  all  souls  ;  and  also  of  a  body 
or  envelope,  the  luminous  ether,  from  which  proceed  all  bodies 
and  all  lights.  Every  created  thing  is  in  like  manner  com- 
posed of  a  soul  or  essence  and  of  a  body  or  envelope. 

The  circle,  with  the  central  point  representing  the  solar 
disc  ;  the  circle  in  relief,  or  cup-shaped  ;  the  spiral,  the  zig-zag, 
the  wavy  forms  [representing  the  germs  of  life  emanating 
from  the  sun]  M.  Soldi  regards  as  cosmic  signs  representing 
the  movements  of  the  ether  and  its  different  manifestations, 
expressing  ideas  as  to  the  creation  of  all  things,  as  to  life, 
death,  and  resurrection,  and  other  mysteries.     These  signs  or 


12  EARLY   IRISH   HISTORY. 

figurations  (cosmooflyphic)  were  the  first  writing  of  Egypt,  and 
were  superseded  by  the  phonetic  system.  They  "  are  to  be 
found  everywhere,  with  the  same  significations  amongst  all 
peoples,  rendered  by  the  same  images  with  forms  so  special, 
singular,  and  conventional  that  no  one  can  object  that  they 
are  due  to  chance  or  the  natural  sameness  of  the  expressions 
of  the  human  brain."  ^^  If  M.  Soldi  was  called  on  to  explain 
the  sculpturings  or  scorings  at  Cloverhill,  Sligo,  near  Carrow- 
more,  he  would  probably  say  that  the  large  circle  with  the 
central  point  represented  the  sun,  the  two  smaller  circles 
emanations,  points  of  fire  and  life  from  the  sun,  the  horizontal 
lines  the  direction  of  the  movement,  and  the  goat  or  ram's 
horns  the  conducting  energies  which  were  to  convey  the  vital 
sparks  to  the  dead  and  clothe  the  bones  with  flesh  and  life. 
The  whole  was,  in  substance,  a  prayer  for  resurrection  written 
in  "  cosmoglyphic  "  language.^* 

Without  taking  into  consideration  the  chambered  tumuli, 
formed  with  courses  of  masonry  overlapping  inwards  in  bee- 
hive fashion,  which  stand  on  debatable  ground  and  seem  to 
be  the  product  of  neolithic  construction,  the  evidence  of  the 
dolmens  and  the  sculpturings  is  persuasive  to  prove  that  in 
neolithic  times  Ireland  was  not  an  unknown  and  isolated 
island,  but  was  in  the  full  current  of  the  progress  of  the  time 
and  in  advance  of  any  part  of  Europe  standing  vathin  the 
same  parallels  of  latitude.  The  men  who  built  the  dolmens 
in  Sligo,  and  probably  many  more  that  have  perished  without 
leaving  any  trace  behind,  must  have  been  a  numerous,  wealthy 
tribe,  with  religion  and  laws  and  social  order  in  process  of 
evolution.  This,  we  venture  to  submit,  was  mainly  due  to  the 
fact  that  there  was  direct  intercourse  between  the  south-west 
of  France  oversea  with  Ireland,  along  the  route  of  the  Dolmen 
builders.  Erin  was  not  isolated  or  wholly  divided  from  the 
rest  of  the  world  in  neolithic  times.  The  dolmens  and  the 
sculpturings  alone  are  suflicient  to  prove  that  the  island  was 
well  in  touch  with  such  progress  as  had  then  been  made,  and 

1^  Soldi  Eniile,  "  La  Langue  Sacree  le  Mystere  de  la  Creation."  Paris,  1897, 
p.  88,  et  seq. 

^^  These  sciilptiiiriugs  are  reproduced  from  drawings  by  Mr.  Wakeman  in 
"  The  Dolmens,"  vol.  i.,  p.  141,  and  arc  simpler  than  those  at  Loughcrew. 
According  to  M.  Soldi,  the  "  casmoglyphio  "  language  may  be  expressed  also 
by  the  arranger  ►eat  of  precious  stones,  arms,  etc,  ia  tli?  tombs, 


BEFORE  THE  COMIKG  OP  THE   GAEL.  IS 

was,  in  fact,  ahead  of  any  region  situated  on  the  same  parallel 
of  latitude  in  Western  Europe.  The  population  must  have  of 
necessity  been  small,  judged  by  a  later  standard. 

The  land  was  covered  with  forests.  Erin  was  called  the 
"island  of  woods."  But  this  was  also  the  case  with  Britain 
and  Central  Europe.  A  vast  forest  extended  in  Caesar's  time 
from  the  source  of  the  Danube  to  the  Carpathian  mountains, 
and  great  forests,  the  remains  of  greater  forests,  extended 
from  the  Rhine  to  the  Atlantic  ocean. 


[  1^  i 


CHAPTER  11. 

What  Our  Texts  Say. 

"  A  MIXTURE  of  a  lie"  (saith  Bacon),  "doth  ever  add 
■Li-  pleasure."  A  popular  historian  should  make  his  story 
as  pleasant  reading  as  fiction.  Let  us  be  gentle,  therefore,  in 
our  criticism  of  the  "  File,"  whose  duty  it  was  "  to  put  a  thread 
of  poetry "  around  the  tales  and  traditions  that  came  down 
from  a  remote  past.  The  first  persons  who  landed  in  Erin 
were  three  fishermen  from  Spain,  who  were  driven  by  adverse 
winds  into  the  mouth  of  the  river  Moy,  near  what  is  now  the 
town  of  Ballina.    They  were  drowned  in  the  universal  deluge. 

Forty  days  before  the  deluge,  Ceasair,  the  daughter  of 
Bith,  and  grand-daughter  of  Noah,  landed  at  Dun-na-mBarc, 
in  Kerry,  on  Saturday,  the  15th  day  of  the  moon. 

This  is  what  brought  her  to  Erin.  Bith,  her  father,  sent 
a  messenger  to  Noah,  to  ask  whether  he  himself  and  his 
daughter,  Ceasair,  would  get  a  place  in  the  Ark,  to  save  them 
from  the  flood.  Noah  said  that  they  would  not  get  it.  Fintan 
asked  the  same,  and  Noah  said  he  would  not  get  a  place. 
Bith,  Fintan,  Ladhra,  and  the  maiden  Ceasair,  go  into 
council  afterwards.  "  Let  my  advice  be  done  by  you,"  said 
Ceasair.  "  It  shall  be  done,"  say  they.  "  Well,  then,"  said 
she,  "take  a  hand-made  god,  i.e.,  an  idol,  and  make  adoration 
to  him,  and  abandon  this  God  of  Noah."  After  that  they 
brought  with  them  a  hand-made  god,  and  he  said  to  them  to 
make  a  ship,  and  go  on  the  sea  ;  however,  it  was  not  known 
to  him  what  time  would  come  the  flood.  A  ship  was  made  by 
them  afterwards,  and  they  went  on  the  sea.  It  is  the  number 
that  went  with  them — three  men :  namely,  Bith,  Fintan,  and 
Ladhra  ;  also  three  women,  Ceasair  and  two  others,  and  fifty 
maidens  with  them.^ 

This  Fintan  was  afterwards  a  celebrated  personage, 
Fintan,  "  the  salmon  of  knowledge."       He  was  turned  into  a 

'  See  introduction  to  "  Book  of  Leinster,"  and  the  following  texts  and 
translations,  "  Fintan's  Poem  :  "  Oss.  Soc,  v.  244,  Giolla  Caomghin's  Annalad 
Anall  uile  ;  Trip.  Life,  530,  Erin  Ard,  Inis  na  rig  ;   Todd  Lee.  Ill  ,  142  ;  Ogygia 


WHAT  OUR  TEXTS  SAY.  15 

salmon  when  the  flood  came,  and  some  said  he  was  resuscitated 
after  the  flood  and  lived  to  the  time  of  St.  Patrick.  It  was  a 
common  saying  amongst  the  people  to  a  late  period,  "  If  I  had 
lived  Fintan's  years  I  could  say  much."  What  occurred 
before  the  flood,  in  which  all  perished  who  were  not  in  the 
Ark,  might  have  been  written  on  a  stone,  or  communicated  by 
Fintan.  The  view,  however,  that  was  most  strongly  held,  and 
which  found  favour  with  Keating,  was  that  the  facts  were  in 
after- time  revealed  to  a  favoured  mortal  by  his  Fairy  Lover 
(l,en^np"6e). 

One  hundred  and  twenty  years  after  the  flood  Adhna 
came  to  Erin  and  took  from  it  with  him  the  full  of  his  hand 
of  the  grass.  His  occupation  was  not  considered  effective  by 
Senachies,  and  is  not  counted  a  "  s^bxilcuf."  Two  and 
seventy-eight  years  after  the  flood  (2680  B.C.)  Partholan, 
fleeing  for  the  murder  of  his  father  and  his  mother,^  landed 
at  Inver  Sceine  (Kenmare  Bay),  pushed  up  the  west  coast  to 
Inis  Saimer  (Fish  Island)  near  the  mouth  of  the  Erne,  and 
finally  settled  at  Magh  Elta,  the  plain  from  Howth  to 
Tallaght,  three  miles  south  of  Dublin.  According  to  the 
Psalter  of  Cashel,  as  Keating  tells  us,  Partholan  started  from 
Greig  Mheadhonaegh,  which  seems  to  be  Maeonia.  It  is  the 
way  he  went  through  the  Toirrian  Sea  to  Sicily  with  the 
right  hand  to  Spain  and  thence  to  Erin.  The  context  shows 
that  the  Toirrian  Sea  cannot  be  the  Tyrrhene  Sea.  It  may 
be  intended  to  indicate  the  sea  west  of  Tyre.  "With  Partholan 
came  his  wife  Dealgnaid,  their  three  sons,  and  1,000  followers. 
They  defeated  the  Fomorians,  800  in  number,  in  a  battle  near 
Lough  Swilly.  The  Fomorians  were  all  killed.  This  was  the 
first  battle  that  was  fought  in  Erin.  After  the  Muintir 
Partholain  (Partholan's  people)  had  passed  300  years  in  Erin 
they  were  all  carried  off  by  the  plague  in  one  week — 5,000 
men  and  4,000  women.  This  plague  stroke  (cAirhfLeACu)  is 
commemorated  in  the  name  Tallaght  at  the  present  day."  ^ 

The  first  jealousy,  as  it  is  called,  of  Erin  also  occurred  in 
Partholan's  time,  and  must  not  be  passed  over.  We  shall  give 

2  It  is  remarkable  that  Partholan,  first  Kins  of  Ireland,  and  Brutus,  first 
King  of  Britain,  are  both  abhorred  for  having  killed  both  father  and  mother.— 
Todd. 

5  Tallaght  is  however  usually  derived  from  catH,  plague,  and  leAcc,  grave. 


16  EARLY   lElSS   HlSTOEr. 

it  abbreviated  in  the  words  of  Keating.  During  the  absence 
of  Partholan,  Dealgnaid  received  the  attentions  of  her  groom 
of  the  chamber,  Todga  (^e  ua  510IU  irein),  and  when  Partholan 
reproached  her,  it  was  not  an  apology  she  made,  but  she  said 
that  it  was  more  just  the  blame  of  that  ill  deed  to  be  on  him- 
self than  on  herself,  and  she  spoke  the  verse — 

Honey  with  a,  woman  leave,  new  milk  with  a  child, 
Food  with  a  generous  man,  flesh  with  a  cat ; 
A  woi'kman  and  his  tools  together  ; 
One  with  the  other  it  is  great  danger. 

Erin  was  then  waste  for  thirty  years  after  the  plague  stroke 
(CAMtiifle^Cc)  of  Partholan's  folk  till  Nemed  came  to  inhabit 
it.  The  track  which  he  journeyed  in  coming  to  Erin  from 
Scythia  was  on  the  narrow  sea  which  is  coming  from  the  ocean 
that  is  called  Mare  Euxinum.  He  gave  hisri^ht  hand  to  the 
Riffacan  mountains  till  he  came  into  the  Northern  Ocean,  and 
his  left  hand  to  Europe  till  he  came  into  Erin.*  Thirty-four 
ships  was  the  number  of  his  fleet  and  thirty  persons  in  each 
ship  of  them.  The  occupation  of  the  race  of  Nemed  lasted 
for  217  years,  until  the  arrival  of  the  Fir-mbolgs  (Firvolce). 
From  the  very  first,  however,  the  possession  of  Nemed  was 
contested  by  the  Fomorians,  who  were  also,  as  we  have  seen, 
adversaries  of  the  first  race.  Nemed  was  at  first  victorious  ; 
he  won  three  battles.  The  third  appears  to  have  been  a 
Pyrrhic  victory.  In  it  was  made  a  "  red  slaughter  "  of  the 
men  of  Erin  under  Arthur,'^  the  son  of  Nemed,  and  Jobcan,  the 
son  of  Starn,  his  grandson,  as  the  old  poem  certifies — 

"  The  Battle  of  Cnamhross,  which  was  tremendous, 
It  is  greatly  in  it  flesh  was  hacked, 
Arthur  and  Jobcan  fell  in  it, 
Although  in  it  Ganu  (i.e.,  the  Fomorian)  was  defeated." 

After  this  Nemed  died  of  the  plague,  with  2,000  of  his 
folk,  in  Oilean  Arda  Neimed  (the  Island  of  Nemed's  Height) 

*  There  M^ere  two  routes  from  the  East  in  primitive  times — one  north  of  the 
Caspian,  the  other  more  southerly,  over  the  Crimean  Bosphorus  between  the 
Euxine  and  the  Sea  of  Azof,  which  is  the  route  here  indicated.  This  route 
then  passed  up  the  valley  of  the  Danube,  with  the  Carpathian — i.e.,  the  Riffacan 
mountains  (semble)  on  the  right  hand. 

^  This  is  the  first  time  the  name  Arthur  occurs  in  story.  The  Cornish 
prince  was  probablj-  a  Gael.  The  name  occurs  often  in  the  Scotch  Gaelic 
pedigrees.  This  reference  has  escaped  Zimmer  who  does  not  mention  this  text  in 
his  article  on  the  name  Arthur.  He  has  collected  the  earUest  eiampla* 
known  to  him  in  his  article  on  Nennius,  p.  28-t. 


WHAT   OUR   TEXTS   SAT.  17 

now  the  Great  Island,  in  Cork  Harbour.       After  this  disaster 
the  Nemedians  were  unable  to  cope  with  their  foes.     These 
Fomorians,  we  are  told,  were  sea  rovers,  robbers  on  the  high 
seas  (po-rhuifit)),  and  came  from  Africa.      They  seized  what  is 
now  Tory  Island,  off  the  N.W,  coast  of  Donegal,  on  which  they 
built  a  stronghold  known  as  Conaing's  Cop,  hence  the  name 
Tor-inis.       From  this  they  enforced  tribute  from  the  race  of 
Nemed.       The  amount  of  the  tribute  was  tv/o-thirds  of  the 
children,  of  the  corn,  and  of  the  milk  of  the  men  of  Erin  to  be 
given  to  them  every  year  on  the  eve  of  S*irii^in  (Hallowe'en) 
to  Magh-g-Geidne,  between  the  Drobhaois  and    the    Erne. 
Rage  and  anger  seized  the  men  of  Erin,  and  they  rose  up  and 
mustered  their  forces  to  attack  their  oppressors.      The  island, 
which  is  nearly  three  miles  long  and  very  narrow,  is  about 
eight  miles  from  the  shore.     The  men  of  Erin  effected  a  land- 
ing, laid  siege  to  the  Tor,^and  demolished  it.     Conan  himself 
and  his  sons  fell  in  the  combat.     More  (another  Fomorian 
leader)  arrived  soon  after  with  the  crews  of  three  score  ships 
from  Africa.      A  furious  battle  ensued.      The  combatants  did 
not  perceive  the  sea  coming  in  under  them,  with  the  obstinacy 
of  the  fighting.     They  fell  mutually ;  all  who  were  not  killed 
were  drowned,  with  the  exception  of  the  crew  of  one  bark, 
thirty  strong  men  under  three  chiefs — Simeon  Breac,  lobath, 
and  Britan  Maol.     Borlase,  who  visited  the  island,  thought 
from  its  configuration  and  elevation  "  that  it  did  not  afford  a 
spot  fitted  to  have  been  the  site  of  the  tide  coming  in  on  the 
fighters."^      Ceesar  Otway,  however,  writes  as  follows: — "In 
the  month  of  August  last  (1826)  a  strong  and    unforeseen 
storm  set  in  from  the  north-west,   which  drove  the  sea  in 
immense  waves  over  the  whole  flat  part  of  (Tory)  island.     The 
waves  beat  over  the  highest  cliffs.  All  the  corn  was  destroyed, 
the  potatoes  were  washed  out  of  the  ground,  and  the  springs 
of  fresh  water  filled  up."  ^ 

After  this  combat  the  Nemedians  in  Erin  took  counsel,  and 
resolved  te  fly  from  the  tyranny  of  the  Fomorians,  and  after 
preparing  for  seven  years  set  sail  for  various  parts  in  1,130  ! 
vessels — between  ship,  bark,  skiff',  and  small  boat.  Ten  heroes 

•^  Tor,  root  "  Tver,"  to  hold,  enclose,  =;   "  fenced  town  or  huttery."    These 
slrongholds  were  usually  on  hills,  "  Tors." 
^iJolmens  111.,  1081. 
*  Sketches  in  Ireland,  1827,  p.  13,  note. 


18  EARLY   IRISH   HISTORY. 

remained  behind  in  command  of  the  remnant,  who  continued 
under  the  slavery  of  the  Fomorians  inhabitng  Erin,  until  the 
coming  of  the  Fir-mbolgs.  The  Four  Masters  say  "216  years 
Nemed  and  his  race  remained  in  Erin,  after  that  Erin  was  a 
wilderness  for  200  years." 

The  Leabhar  Gabhala  does  not  represent  the  Fomorians  as 
having  made    an  "occupation"  (sAbAlc^r)   of  Erin.      They 
were   invaders,  raiders,    but   not   occupiers.     Partholan  and 
Nemed  were  occupiers  but  not  invaders.     The  term  invasions 
is  not  applicable  to  the  taking  possession  of  unowned  and  un- 
inhabited land,  and  is  not  used  by  McGeoghegan,  who  uses 
the  word  "  inhabitancy."   We  have  already  indicated  our  view 
that  Phoenician  traders  made  their  way  to  Erin  at  a  very  early 
period,  and  in  those  early  days  and  to  a  much  later  time,  not 
very  far  removed  from  our  own,  there  was  a  very  thin  partition 
dividing  the  trader  from  the  pirate.    In  the  usual  course  trade 
led  on  to  tribute,  tribute  to  revolt,  revolt  to  extermination  or 
slavery.    This  Fomorian  tradition  appears  to  us  to  approximate 
very  closely  in  its  broad  outlines  to  true  history.^     There  were 
two  tributary  poisons  by  which  the  pure  stream  of  tradition 
was  fouled  on  its  way  to  us.     We  may  refer  to  them  as  the 
poison  of  the  synchronists  and  the  poison  of  the  etymologists. 
The  synchronists,  beginning  with  creation,   must  have  felt 
considerably  relieved  when  they  came  to  the  flood,  from  which 
they  could  take  a  new  departure.     Keating  tells  us  that  "  all 
the  colonists  who  took  Erin  after  the  flood  descended  from 
Magog,  the  son  of  Japhet.     At  Sen,  the  son  of  Esru  Partholan 
and  the  children  of  Nemed  separate  from  each  other,  and  At 
Seara  the  Fir  m-bolgs  and  the  Tuatha  Dedannan  and  the  sons 
of  Miled  also  separate.  And  it  is  the  Scotic  language  all  these 
tribes  spoke."^°     This  was  the  accepted  view,  and  to  sustain  it 
some  ingenious  devices  were  resorted  to.     Nemed's  grandson, 
for  instance,  Simeon  Breac,  went  into  Greece,    it  was  said,  to 
escape  the  oppression  of  the  Fomorians.      His  race  multiplied 
there,  and  came  back  as  Fir  m-bolgs,  so  called  from  the  sacks 
(bolg)  in  which  they   used  to  carry    earth    for    their    task 
masters ! ! !       The  synchronists  met  with  difficulties  from  the 
outset.       Chronologists  were  hopelessly  at  variance  as  to  the 
length  of  time  that  had  elapsed  from  the  Creation  to  the 
*545-AiTn  "zcapio,  and  <i5  sib^il :;  O'.cupatio,  a  takiag  possession.  ^°Cap.  vii. 


WHAT   Otfe   TEXTS   SAY.  19 

Birth  of  Christ.     Keating  in  his  preface,  as  an  evidence  of 
such  disagreement  amongst  the  best  writers,  gives  the  compu- 
tations of  the  widely  divergent  authorities.       The  usual  com- 
putation of  the  "  Irish  Domestic  Annals,"  as  O'Flaherty  terms 
it,  agrees  closely  with  the  computation  of  Scaliger.      There 
were,  however,  other  computations  in  the  Irish  Annals.      The 
Four  Masters,  following  the  Septuagint,  and  Eusebius,  and 
reckoning  5,199  years  from  the  Creation  to  the  Birth  of  Christ, 
were  following  also  an  old  Irish  rythm.     O'Flaherty,  whose 
figures  we  quote  below,  relies  mainly  on    a  poem  by  Giiia 
Caemhain  (11072),  while  Eocaid  Ua  Floinn  (flOSG)  cited  in 
the  margin  of  Ogygia,^^  appears  to  have  calculated  5,199  from 
the  creation  to  the  birth  of  Christ.     In  addition  to    these 
elements  of  confusion,  the  copies  of  the  old  texts  differed  from 
each  other,  and  from  the  originals,  through  the  inaccuracy 
and  inattention  of  the  transcribers.       The  synchronist,  begin- 
ning with  Partholan,  22  years  before  the  birth  of  Abraham, 
had  to  produce  a  king  or  a  colonist,  or  account  for  his  absence 
from  that  time  until  the  birth  of  Christ,  or  as  O'Flahertv 
describes  it,  "  a  synchronism  in  which  the  epoch  and  genera- 
tions of  the  Irish  are  accurately  collated  with  foreign  ones." 
The  chief  of  these  synchronisms  was  arranged  by  Flann  of  the 
Monastery.     He  was  a  lay  professor  (Fir    leighinn)  at    the 
Cistercian  Abbey  of  Monasterboice,  in  Louth.  He  synchronized 
the  Kings  of  the  Assyrians,  Medes,  Persians,  Greeks,  and  the 
Ptoman  emperors  with  the  kings  of  Erin,  in  parallel  columns, 
century  by  century.  He  died  in  1066,  and  his  learning,  which 
was  very  great,  can  of  course  throw  very  little  light  on  our 
early  history.     An  examination  of  the  subjoined  table    will 
show  that  there  is  very  little  difference  between  the  various 
computations  from  the  time  of  David,  which  may  be  approxi- 
mately fixed   at  about  1000  B.C."      Michael  ua  Clerigh,  the 
Chief  of  the   Four  Masters,  in  his  preface  to  the  "  Book  of 
Occupations,"  states  that  it  appeared  to  him  "  whose  inheri- 
tance it  was  from  his  ancestors,  to  be  a  chronicler,"  that  it 
would  be  a  charity  for  some  one  of  the  men  of  Erin  to  purify, 
compile,  and  rewrite  the  ancient  honoured  Chronicle  which  is 
called  the  "  Book  of  Occupations.'"^-^ 

"  Ogygia  (1685),  p.  3  and  8.       The  marginal  note  referred  to  is  omitted  in 
Hely's  (1793)  translatioa.  p.  xxvii. 

12  Ogygia,  Part  II.  -^  OCurry  (MSS.),  p.  172. 


20  EARLY   IRISH   HISTORY. 

"  We  give  (he  writes)  the  computation  of  the  Septuagint 
for  the  first  four  ages  with  the  computpvtion  which  the  intelli- 
gent and  learned  men  who  folloYv'ed  them  applied  to  the  ages 
of  the  world  from  the  creation  to  the  birth  of  Christ,  which 
they  divided  into  four  parts.  Among  these  are  Eusebias,  who 
in  his  Chronicle  computes  from  the  creation  to  the  birth  of 
Christ,  to  be  5,199  years.  Orosius  says  that  there  are  from 
Adam  to  Abraham  3,184  years  ;  and  from  Abraham  to  the 
birth  of  Christ  2,015  years,  which  makes  the  same  number. 
St.  Jerome  says  in  his  Epistle  to  Titus  that  6,000  years  had 
not  then  been  completed.  St.  Augustine,  in  the  City  of  God, 
counts  it  at  6,000  years.  The  reason  we  have  followed  the 
writers  who  foUov;  the  Septuagint  is  because  they  have  added 
a  fifth  to  their  ages,  and  so  make  out  the  period  of  5,199  years 
from  the  creation  to  the  birth  of  Christ.  So  also  the  Roman 
Martyrology."  ^*  A  tabular  view  of  the  chronology  of  our 
texts  and  of  sacred  chronology  will  be  found  in  the  following 

table  : — 

Chronology  of  Our  Texts. 


Four 

Scaliger. 

Domestic. 

Masters. 

Keating. 

From  the    Creation  to  the 

Deluge    ... 

1656-1583 

1656 

2242 

1656 

Thence    to    ceasiug    of    the 

Flood      

1 

Thence  to  birth  of  Abraham 

292 

292 

942 

344 

Thence  to  David     

940 

942 

940 

— 

Thence  to  Captivity 

471 

473 

485 

Thence  to  Birth  of  Christ 

589 

589 

590 

— ■ 

Creation  to  Christ  ...         3949  3952         5199         4052 

SACRED   CHRONOLOGY. 

The  variations  are  endless  on  this  subject.  De  Vignolles 
reckons  200  different  computations.  The  following  is  offered 
as  a  popular,  but  disputed  view  : — 

Hebrew.  Samaritan.  Septuagint. 

Adam  to  Noah      1656              1307  2241^ 

Noah  to  Abraham 292                942  942 

Abraham  to  Chri8-u           ...         2044              2044  2044 


3992  4293  5228 

The  reign  of  David  may  be  assigned  to  1,000  B.C 
The  fall  of  Jerusalem  „  586    , 

"'  OCurry  MS.,  170,  172,  condeneeci. 


WHAT   OUR   TEXTS   SAY.  21 

We  may  deal  more  briefly  with  the  etymological  poison. 
It  may  be  safely  stated  as  a  general  rule  that  whenever  any- 
thing is  stated  to  be  a  fact  in  connection  with  an  etymology 
in  nine  cases  out  of  ten  it  is  sure  to  be  pure  fiction. ^^     The 
Dindsenchus,  a  mytho-heroic  topography,  the  Coir  Anmann, 
a  mytho-heroic  biography,  and  Keating,  are  filled  with  these 
absurdities.       It  is  only  fair  to  add  that  absurdities  almost  as 
great  continued  in  Classical  literature  well  into  the  middle  of 
tjie  nineteenth  century,  when  their  place  was  taken  by  the 
absurdities  of  the  solar  myth.     Much,  if  not  all,  the  synchron- 
isms and  legends  connected  with  pre-Gaelic  Erin  must  un- 
hesitatingly be  set  down  to  the  influence  of  Christianity  and 
the  invention  of  early  Christian  bards,  who  felt  a  desire  to 
trace  their  kings  back  to  Japhet.     The  native  unchristianised 
genealogies  all  converge  to  the  sons  and  nephews  of  Golamh 
(Milesius.)      The  legends  of  their  exploits  and  those  of  their 
successors  are  the  real  race  heritage  of  the  Gael  "unmixed 
with  the  fanciful  Christian  allusions  and  Hebraic  adulterations 
of  the  pre-Milesian  story  which  was  the  last  to  be  invented."^'' 
The  third  "  occupation  "  of  Erin  was  by  a  people  whom 
recent  writers  call  Firbolgs ;  but  whom  the  Gaels  called  Fir- 
nnholgs  or  Firhholgs,  and  whom  MacGeoghegan  very  properly 
denominates  Firvolce  in  his  translation  of  the  Annals  of  Clon- 
macnoise.    The  Firvolce  held  possession  of  Erin  for  thirty-seven 
years  from  1934  to  1897,  during  which  there  were  eight  kings  ! 
We  shall  see  that  next  to  the  Gael  they  were  the  most  important 
people  that  occupied  Erin,  and  had  many  sub-denominations. 
They  were,  our  texts  say,  the  descendants  of  Simeon  Breac, 
the  son  of  Starn,  the  son  of  Nemed.     The  fourth  occupants 
were  the  Tuatha  Dedanann,  descended  from  Jobath,  the  great 
grandson  of  Nemed,  who  held  possession  for  197  years  (1897- 
1701  B.C.)     The  second,  third  and  fourth  "  Occupants  "  were 
thus  Nemedians,  of  one  stock,  speaking  one  language,  and 
held  possession  at  the  coming  of  the  Gael.     There  were  three 
sub-divisions  of  the  Firvolce,  the  Fir  Domhnann  and  the  Fir- 
Gaiieoin,  all,  however,  in  common  were  called  Firvolce,  though 
sometimes  accounted  distinct  and  separate  occupants.^'^ 

15  Isidore  of  Seville  636  a. D.,  called  his  encyclopaedia  work  de  omni  scibili. 
"  Books  of  Etymologies  " — (Libri  Etymologiarum,  xx.) 

"  Hyde  "  Literary  History,"  46.     For  ethnology  of  Firvolce  see  Cap.  I. 
1'  5i-6eA'6  soititeoji  pr'-t>^o^S  5°  coiccionn  ■ooib  uiLe. — Keating,  c.  ix. 


22  EARLY   IRISH   HISTORY.. 

The  five  sons  of  Deala,  who  was  ninth  in  descent  from 

Starn,  the  son  of  Nemed,  commanded  the  expedition  of  the 

Firvolce,  which  consisted  of  5,000  in  1,130  ships,  counting 

ship,  bark,  skiff,  and  small  boat.     They  sailed  from  Greece, 

over  the  Torrian  Sea  to  Spain,  and  thence  to  Erin,  which  they 

divided  into  five  provinces— Ulster,  Connact,  Leinster,  and 

South  and  North  Munster.  They  established  a  pentarchy  with 

an  Ardrigh,  and  were  governed  by  eight  kings  in  succession 

during  the  thirty-seven  years  they  held  possession.     In  after 

times  the  Fir-Gaileoin  were  associated  with  Leinster,  and  the 

Fir  Domhnann  with  North-West  Connact — the  latter  having 

originally  landed,  it  was  said,  at  Blacksod  Bay.     The  ninth 

and  last  high  king  was  Eocaid  MacErc,  who  had  to  wife  Tailtin, 

daughter  of  Maghmor,  King  of  Spain,    the  foster-mother  of 

Lug.     According  to  the  Poem  of  Columba,  it  was  she  that 

founded  the  fair  of  Tailtin.     She  founded  the  Fair  as  the 

Nasad  of  Lug,  the  Sungod  (not  god  of  the  son),  and  it  was 

not,  as  more  frequently  stated,  Lug  that  founded  the  Fair  in 

commemoration  of  Tailtin.     The  mortal  name  of  Lug  in  Gaelic 

tales  is  Lugaid  Lam-fada.^^ 

There  was  no  rain  or  tempestuous  weather  in  Eocaid's  time, 
nor  a  year  without  great  produce  and  fruit.  All  injustice  and 
unlawfulness  were  suppressed,  and  sure  and  excellent  laws 
were  ordained  in  it.  He  ruled  the  land  from  Royal  Tara  for 
ten  prosperous  years.  When  Nuada  landed  with  the  Tribes  of 
Dedannan  (UuaCa  "oe  "OAtiAnii),  and  demanded  a  settlement 
in  the  country,  Eocaid  refused  his  kinsman's  request,  and 
said — "  Leave  the  land,  remain  as  slaves,  or  fight  to  the  death." 
A  fierce  battle  was  then  fought  at  Moytura,  in  Mayo,  at  the 
neck  of  land  which  joins  Lough  Mask  with  Lough  Corrib, 
sometimes  called  Moytura  Conga. 

The  field  on  which  the  battle  of  South  Moytura  is  said  to 
have  been  fought  extends  from  five  to  six  miles  north  to  south. 
Near  the  centre  of  this  space,  and  nearly  opposite  to  Cong,  is 
a  group  of  five  stone  circles.  On  other  parts  of  the  field  are 
six  or  seven  large   cairns  of  stone,   amongst  which   is  the 

18  i^,  injen  iTlAsmoit^  rii  -oaI-  ■ooit  ben  ecViAc  rtiic  "Ouac 

goiiAb  x:■6.^\.z^n  b)iointie  oetiAis  Ain  mutme  tojA  triic  ScAil,. 

It  is  the  daughter  of  Maghmor,  the  family  is  not  obscure,  the  wife  ol 
Eocaid,  £0D  of  Duacn,  that  was  the  founder  of  the  Fair  of  Tailtin.  and  the 
foster-mother  of  Lug,  the  son  of  Seal.     L.L.,  p.  8,  col.  1. 


WHAT   OUR   TEXTS   SAY.  23 

celebrated  one-man  cairn  (Cam  an  aoin  Fir),  a  name  handed 
down  by  tradition.  The  story  that  has  reached  us  in  writing 
states  that  on  the  morning  of  the  fourth  day  of  the  battle,  Eocaid, 
the  Ardrigh,  while  bathing  at  a  well  near  the  cairn,  was  sud- 
denly attacked  by  three  of  the  foe.  His  giolla  fought  the 
three  single-handed  and  slew  them,  but  died  of  his  wounds, 
and  was  buried  with  honour  in  a  cairn  close  by.  Sir  W.  Wilde, 
book  in  hand  identified  the  well,  as  he  tells  us,  and  caused  the 
cairn  to  be  opened,  and  found  it  contained  an  urn.^^ 

The  "red  slaughter  "  was  preceded  by  a  combat  between 
three  "  nines  "  at  each  side  in  a  game  of  "  hurley,"  which  took 
place  in  the  "  Valley  of  the  Athletes "  (Glean-mo-Ailleam). 
The  twenty-seven  Dedananns  were  defeated  and  died,  and  "  the 
heap  of  the  game  "  (Carn  an  Cluithe),  which  may  be  seen  to 
this  day,  was  erected  over  them.  "  How  like  in  its  way,"  says 
a  recent  historian,  "  to  the  erection  on  the  plain  of  Marathon, 
pointing  out  where  the  Athenians  fell ! "  The  great  fight 
lasted  four  days.  Fathach,  the  bard,  chanted  the  battle  song 
(Rosg  Catha)  of  the  Firvolce  to  hearten  them  for  the  fight ; 
Edana,  the  poetess,  led  the  chant  on  the  side  of  the  Dedanann. 
The  High  King  and  Sreng  led  the  Firvolce,  and  performed 
the  usual  prodigies  of  valour  ;  Nuada,  the  Dagda,  and  Ogma 
commanded  the  Dedanann.  Sreng  engaged  Nuada  in  single 
combat,  and  cut  off  his  right  arm  at  the  shoulder  with  a  sword 
cut,  but  Nuada  survived.  On  both  sides  healing  baths  of  hot 
milk  and  herbs  had  been  prepared  for  the  cure  of  the 
wounded.  "  It  is  from  Lusmag,  in  the  King's  County, 
Diancecht  brought  every  herb  and  grated  them  at  the  well  of 
Glainge  in  Achad  Abla  before  the  battle  of  Magh  Tuiradh, 
when  the  great  battle  was  fought  between  the  Tuatba  Dea 
and  the  Fomori."  ^'^ 

Nuada's  wound  was  in  time  healed  by  the  skill  of 
Diancecht,  the  King's  physician,  and  Credne,  the  craftsman 
(Ceard)  made  a  silver  arm  for  him,  and  the  king  was  ever 
after  known  as  Nuada  of  the  Silver  Hand  (Nuada  Airgid-lamh). 
On  the  fourth  day  the  Firvolce  were  completely  routed,  and 
Eocaid,  the  Ard  Righ,  was  slain.  A  cairn  was  erected  over 
him  at  the  Hill  of  Killower,  distant  about  a  mile  from  Lough 

"  Sir  W.  Wilde's  address  to  Royal  Irish  Academy. 
^Res.  Coll.,  xvi.,  59.     Dinnseanchvs.     L\isrcag. 


24  EARLY    IRISH   HISTORY. 

Mask.  It  is  called  Carn  Eocaid,  and  is  the  most  extensive 
and  remarkable  in  the  west  of  Ireland.  A  few  miles  to  the 
east  of  the  battlefield  is  the  Hill  of  Knockma,  five  miles  south- 
west of  Tuam,  on  the  top  of  which  is  the  mound  of  Cesair, 
who  invaded  !  Erin  with  fifty  maidens  and  three  men  before 
the  Flood,  and  is  known  now  probably  as  Finnbheara,  queen 
of  the  fairies  of  Connact.-^  The  origin,  names,  and  use  of 
many  of  the  monuments  on  the  plain  are  to  be  found  in  a 
Sao-a  descriptive  ^^  of  the  battle.  The  annals  of  Clonmacnoise 
say,  "  100,000  men  were  slain  in  the  fight,  which  was  the 
greatest  slaughter  that  ever  was  heard  of  in  Erin  at  one  time." 
According  to  the  Saga,  the  Firvolce  afterwards  obtained  from 
the  Dedanann  the  province  of  Connact,  which  was  known, 
amongst  other  names,  as  Sreng's  "  fifth,"  up  to  the  time  of 
Conn  of  the  Hundred  Battles.  Keating,  however,  says  that 
the  Firvolce  fled  to  the  islands  of  Arran,  Islay,  Rathlin,  and 
the  Hebrides,  which  they  held  possession  of  until  driven  out 
by  the  Picts.  They  then  fled  to  Leinster,  and  finally  returned 
to  Connact  in  Queen  Meve's  time.  Many  pedigrees  were  sub- 
sequently traced  to  this  stock,  which  produced  distinguished 
soldiers.  O'Flaherty,  whose  opinion  on  this  point  is  of  special 
weight,  tells  us  that  in  the  time  of  the  Gaels  "  whom  very 
probably  they  assisted  in  dispossessing  and  expelling  the 
Dananns,  they  were  restored  to  their  landed  properties  and 
dignities.  For  Crimthan  Skaithbell,  one  of  them,  was  consti- 
tuted governor  of  Leinster  by  King  Heremon,  which  was 
afterwards  denominated  the  province  of  the  Gallinians.  The 
Erneans  and  Martineans,  of  whom  there  is  frequent  mention 
in  subsequent  accounts,  were  the  descendants  of  the  Firbolgs. 
The  Damnonians  were  the  most  ancient  princes  of  Connact  to 
the  time  of  King  Cormac.  ...  Of  these  were  three  particular 
families — the  Gamanradians,  the  Fircraibians,  and  the  Tira-tha 
Thaiden,  by  whom  Connact  was  divided  into  three  Connacts, 
and  the  people  were  denominated  also  the  Firolnegemacht."  ^ 

21  Dolmens  III.,  799. 

22  0' Curry  MS.,  247. 

23  O'Flaherty,  Ogygia  III.,  c.  si.,  p.  175.  Tigernach,  a.d.,  35,  calls  it  Coice-o 
r-OltiecmAcc.  olnejmACt:  was  supposed  to  be  the  daughter  of  a  Firvo|.ce 
chief.  Book  of  Lecan,  fol.  221.  After  the  race  of  Conn  of  the  Hundred  Battles 
— namely,  the  sons  of  Eoeaid  Muigmeadon  (Brian  and  Fiachra)  took  possession 
of  Connact  it  became  known  as  Cuinn-iocta,  i.e..  Conn's  race,  and  the  Hy  Briuin 
and  the  Hy  Fiachra  became  the  dominant  power  in  Connact. 


WHAT   OUR   TEXTS   SAY.  25 

The  Dedananns  appear  to  have  been  assisted  in  this  battle 
by  Fomorians.     These,   however,    were  not   the   African  sea 
rovers   who  fought  on   Tory   Island,   but   warriors  from  the 
northern   seas.     Nuada,  suffering   from   a  personal   blemish, 
could  not  reign  until  "  his  hand  had  been  welded  with  a  piece 
of  refined  silver."     Breas  was  made  High  King  in  the  interim, 
and  ruled  for  seven  years.     He  Avas  the  son  of  a  Fomorian 
chief,  Elatha.      His  mother  was  a  Dedanann.      Another  inter- 
marriage of  importance,  as  we  shall  see,  is  also  mentioned. 
Cian,  the  son  of  Diancecht  the  physician,  married  Eithlenn,  or 
Ethnea,   the   daughter  of  Balor  of  the   "  Stiff  Blows,"   and 
Kethleen  his  wife,  and  had  issue  the  celebrated  Lugaid  Lamh- 
fadha.     This,  however,  was  only  his  mortal  parentage.     His 
real   father  was   the   Sun-God   Lug.     Breas  proved  to  be  a 
niggardly  tyrant.     "  The  chiefs  of  the  Dedananns  were  dis- 
satisfied, for  Breas  did  not  grease  their  knives ;  in  vain  came 
they  to  Breas,  their  breath  did  not  smell  of  ale.     Neither  their 
poets,  nor  bards,  nor  druids,  nor  harpers,  nor  flute-players,  nor 
musicians,  nor  jugglers,  nor  fools,  appeared  before  them  nor 
came  into  the  palace  to  amuse  them."   He  had  reduced  many  of 
the  bravest  of  the  chiefs  to  a  state  of  vassalage  and  servitude. 
Cairbre  the  satirist,  son  of  Etana  the  poetess,  was  shown  "  into 
a  little  house — small,  narrow,  black,  dark — where  was  neither 
fire,  furniture,  nor  bed.     He  was  given  three  little  dry  loaves, 
on  a  little  plate.     When  he  rose  in  the  morning  he  was  not 
thankful."       The   indignant  poet  thereupon  wrote  the  first 
satire  that  was  written  in  Erin. 

Breas  was  forced  to  resign  soon  after.  He  then  went  to 
his  father,  Elatha,  the  Fomorian  chief,  and  having  secured 
the  aid  of  Balor  of  the  "  Mighty  Blows  "  and  the  "  Evil  Eye," 
and  of  Indech,  the  son  of  De-Domnand,  two  powerful  chiefs, 
he  invaded  Erin.  From  Tara  to  Tory  Island,  from  Staffa  to 
the  Giant's  Causeway,  the  sea  was  spanned,  as  it  were,  by  a 
bridge  of  ships  of  every  description.  A  great  battle  ensued. 
It  was  fought  on  the  plain  of  Moytura,  about  fifty  miles  north 
of  the  former  battle,  near  Lough  Arrow,  at  Kilmactraney,  in 
Sligo.  Nuada,  the  Dagda,  Lugaid  Lamh-fadha,  Ogma,  and 
Delbart  were  the  leaders  of  the  Dedananns.  Breas, 
Elatha,  Balor,  Tethra,  and  Indech  were  the  leaders  of 
the     Fomorians.        Two     ladies     graced     the     combat     by 


26  EARLY   IRISH   HISTORY. 

their  valour.  Macha  fought  for  Nuada,  and  Kethleen, 
the  wife  of  Balor  and  grandmother  of  Lug,  carried 
sword  and  spear  in  the  ranks  of  the  Fomorians.  The  arms 
carried  by  the  Fomorian  chiefs  and  their  costume  are 
described  by  the  authors  of  the  tract  on  the  second  battle  of 
Moytura.  Elatha  the  king  "had  golden  hair  down  to  his 
shoulders.  He  wore  a  cloak  braided  with  golden  thread,  a 
tunic  interwoven  with  threads  of  gold,  and  a  brooch  of  gold  at 
his  breast  emblazed  with  precious  stones.  He  carried  two 
bright  spears  with  fine  bronze  handles  in  his  hand,  a  shield  of 
gold  over  his  shoulder,  and  a  gold-hilted  sword  with  veins  of 
silver  and  paps  of  gold."  He  had,  in  addition,  a  breastplate 
and  a  helmet.  A  fierce  fight  ensued.  Balor  of  the  "  Mighty 
Blows  "  cut  down  Nuada  with  his  sword,  and  Macha,  running 
bravely  to  aid  the  king,  fell  to  his  spear.  Kethleen  hurled 
her  lance  at  the  Dagda,  and  inflicted  a  wound  from  which  he 
died  one  hundred  and  twenty  years  afterwards.  Ogma  was 
slain  by  Indech.  The  victory  of  the  Fomorians  seemed  assured, 
but  Lug  then  rushed  to  the  rescue.  From  his  stafF-sling 
(c|\Anti  cAbAU)he  whirled  a  mighty  stone  at  Balor.  It  entered 
the  "  evil  eye,"  pierced  the  brain,  and  passed  out  through  the 
back  of  the  skull.  The  mighty  Balor  fell,  to  rise  no  more. 
The  3Ior  Riga  then  arrived  to  help  the  Dedanann,  and  the 
battle  "  was  broke  "  on  the  Fomorians,  and  the  plain  was  ever 
after  known  as  Magh  Tuired  na  bh-Fomoruch  (Moytura  of  the 
Fomorians)."  ^ 

"  Recent  scholarly  attempts,"  says  Borlase,  "  to  master  the 
details  of  this  battle  legend,  have  tended  rather  to  counten- 
ance the  view  that  the  two  stories  relate  to  one  and  the  same 
event,"  the  battle  in  the  Northern  Moytura.^^  M.  d'Arbois 
lends  the  great  weight  of  his  authority  to  this  view,  which 
seems  to  be  helped  by  the  fact  stated  by  Douglas  Hyde,  that 
in  the  oldest  current  list  of  Irish  sagas,  drawn  up  probably  in 
the  7th  century,  only  one  battle  of  Magh  Tuired  is  mentioned, 
i.e.,  what  is  now  known  as  the  second  or  Northern  Battle.^^ 

^  O'Curry  MS.,  248.  The  tract  which  contains  this  Saga,  which  has  a 
Viking  flavour,  is  referred  to  by  Cor  mac  MacCuilenain  in  illustration  of  the  word 
"  Nis,"  and  is  undoubtedly  old,  but  still  written  as  a  Saga  2,000  years  after  the 
battle. 

Annals  Clonmacnoise.  Murphy,  S./.,  Ed.,  1-18,  "  of  whom  Inniskilhean 
took  the  name." 

25  Dolmens  III.,  803. 

2«  Ir.  Literature.  283. 


WHAT   OUR   TEXTS   SAY.  27 

Against  this  view  must  be  weighed  the  very  old  local  tradi- 
tions at  Cong,  and  in  the  introduction  to  the  Senchus  Mor,  a 
later  text,  both  battles  are  referred  to.  Our  view  strongly 
inclines  to  side  with  M.  d'Arbois,  but  the  question  does  not 
admit  of  a  peremptory  decision.  The  meaning  of  the  words 
Tuatha  De  Danann,  or  Tuatha  Dedannan,  is  still  a  vexed 
question.  If  De  means  gods,  then  the  natural  meaning  of 
Tuatha  De  is  tribes  of  gods,  and  the  De  Danann  would  become 
mythological  beings.  "  The  mythological  beings,"  writes 
Borlase,  "  who  constitute  the  Tuatha  De  Danann  took  their 
name  from  Dana,  the  daughter  of  Dealbeath."  An  alternative 
translation,  suggested  by  M.  d'Arbois,  is  "tribes  of  the 
goddess  Dana,"  i.e.,  who  worshipped  Dana.  On  linguistic 
grounds,  Hyde  considers  this  version  venturesome,  which  is  a 
polite  way  of  sajang  that  it  cannot  be  sustained.-^  The  old 
Irish  did  not  attach  this  meaning  to  it,  nor  is  there  any  trace 
of  a  worship  or  cult  of  a  goddess  Dana  by  special  tribes  in 
Erin.  They  explained  it  as  "  men  of  science  who  were  as 
gods."  This  is  still  more  venturesome,  in  our  opinion.  It 
was  probably  suggested  by  the  supernatural  feats  of  Lug  and 
Balor.  We  prefer  to  consider  De  Danann  to  be  a  tribal  name- 
word  of  the  same  class  as  De  Domhnan,  the  father  of  Indech, 
already  mentioned.  There  were  no  anthropomorphic  gods  or 
goddesses  in  Erin  at  this  time.  We  have  not  overlooked  a 
primitive  Aryan  Dev-os,  or  the  Sanskrit  Dyaus,  which  probably 
meant  originally,  not  a  god,  but  the  bright  Firmament,  a 
conception  which  was  not  likely  to  survive  under  the  ever- 
weeping  skies  of  Erin.  The  Sun,  the  Moon,  the  Wind,  etc., 
were  the  objects  of  their  worship.  We  consider,  therefore, 
that  Dia,  gen.  De,  was  a  loan  word  from  the  Latin  Deus,  as 
Dia  day,  was  a  loan  word  from  the  Latin  dies.  We,  therefore, 
claim  for  humanity  the  redoubtable  tribes  of  Dedanann. 

An  examination  of  the  various  views  and  theories  that 
Lave  been  broached  in  reference  to  the  Dedanann  would 
require  a  volume.  The  plan  of  this  work,  and  the  space  at 
our  disposal,  compel  us  to  forego  the  pleasures  of  controversy. 
We  must,  therefore,  be  content  with  stating  in  a  summary 
way  the  conclusions  at  which  we  have  arrived.  They  are  the 
cumulative  result  of  many  considerations,  which  do  not  lend 

27  Ir,  Literature,  286. 


28  EARLY    IRISH    HISTORY. 

themselves  to  precise  and  detailed  statements.  We  present 
them  merely  as  a  tentative  and  conjectural  attempt  to  solve  a 
problem  which  is,  perhaps,  insoluble. 

There  was,  we  think,  but  one  battle  of  Moytura,  which  was 
fought  on  the  plain  now  called  Moyterra,  near  Lough  Arrow,  in 
Sligo.      The  Dedanann,  aided  by  Northern  Fomorians,  after  a 
hard  fought  field,  routed   the  Firvolce,  and  slew  their  High 
King  Eocaid.     They  then  took  possession  of  Tara,  and  most  of 
what  was  afterwards  known  as  the  "  Fifth  "  of  Meath,  extend- 
ing from  the  Boyne  to  the  Litfey,  and  southwards  and  west- 
wards to  the  Shannon.     They  ousted,  or  reduced  to  slavery, 
the  inhabitant  Firvolce,  most  of  whom  fled  to  Scotland  and 
the  Western  Isles.  ^^  The  Fir  Domhnan  branch  of  the  Firvolce 
were,  however,  allowed  to  remain  in  Connact,  paying  tribute. 
The  Fir  Gailleoin  branch,  too,  were  allowed    to   remain   in 
Leinster,  as  tributaries.      The  Dedanann  then,  occupying  the 
rich  pastures  of  Meath,  with  wealth  of  slaves  and  tribute,  soon 
became  very  powerful,  made    great  progress  in  civilization, 
and  were  the  builders  of  the  sepulchral  monuments  near  the 
Boyne — which  may  be  called  "  the  pyramids  of  Erin."  -^  They 
were,  however,  a  military  aristocracy,  and  had  no  roots  in  the 
soil,  and  when  defeated  by  the   Gael  with  the  aid    of   the 
Firvolce,  they  were  slain  in  battle  or  expelled  from    their 
territories  in  Meath.     They  then  disappeared  completely  from 
history  and  passed  into  fairyland  and  romance.     No  genuine 
legend  or  tradition  concerning  them  reached  our  annalists. 
Such  traditions  were  preserved  in  families,  and  there  were  no 
Dedanann  families  left  to  preserve  them.     The  families  of  the 
Firvolce,  on  the  other  hand,  remained.     In  them  the  father 
passed  the  tradition  on  to  his  son,  as  the  tradition   of  the 
Exodus  was  preserved  and  passed  on  by  the  Hebrews.     If  we 
were  to  suppose  that  no  book  was  written  or  printed,  the  story 
of  the  Exodus  would  reach  us  substantially  as  we  find  it.  The 
bitter  herbs  and  the  Paschal  Lamb,  and  the  Cup,  and  the 
question  why  does  this  night  differ  from  other  nights  at  the 
Passover  every  year,  would  secure  its  preservation.     And  so 

^  These  fugitives  were  possibly  the  Cuaca-Cac,  or  Attacoti,  of  after-time. 

29  "  The  Cloghaun  or  beehive  hut,  as  it  existed  in  the  Firvolce  period,  was 
developed  by  the  Dedanann  into  their  magnificent  structures,  not  inferior  to  the 
Treasury  of  Atreus,"  and  "  it  is  noteworthy  that  sepulchral  monuments  with 
these  beehive  roofs  are  unknown  in  the  Scandinavian  archaeological  area." 


WHAT   OUR   TEXTS   SAY.  29 

the  traditions  of  the  Firvolce,  and  afterwards  of  the  Gael,  were 
handed  down  from  father  to  son.  They  are  genuine  in  sub- 
stance, but  often  over-laid,  contorted,  and  metamorphosed  in 
the  social  and  religious  changes  that  supervened. 

There  remains  for  consideration  in  this  chapter  an  isolated 
and  exceptional  religious  cult,  which  in  its  general  character 
must  be  described  as  Semitic,  while  its  special  details  appear 
to  correspond  closely  with  the  Phoenician,  or  Carthagenian, 
ritual  in  the  worship  of  Melkarth  or  Moloch.  The  matter  is 
one  of  high  importance,  as  we  shall  see  when  we  come  to 
consider  the  cult  of  the  Gaels  at  the  coming  of  St.  Patrick. 
On  it  has  been  mainly  based  the  contention  that  the  Gael  were 
anthropomorphic  idolaters. 

In  the  Tripartite  Life  of  St.  Patrick  we  read  that  he  went 
over  the  water  to  Magh  Slecht,  a  place  in  which  was  the  chief 
idol  of  Ireland — namely,  Cean  Cruaich — covered  with  gold 
and  silver,  and  twelve  other  idols  covered  with  brass,  about 
him.  These  idols  were  probably  of  wood,  and  covered  with 
gold  or  brass  plates.  ^^  Here  the  idol  is  called  "  Cenn 
Cruaich"  {i.e.,  bloody  head);  but  the  common  name  for  it 
was  Crom  Cruaich,  or  Crom  Dubh,  that  is  "  bloody  stoop  "  or 
"  black  stoop  " — which  indicates  that  the  idol  was  stooping 
forward.  ^^  These  names  were  evidently  not  the  names  given 
to  the  idol  by  votaries ;  what  it  was  called  by  them  we  do  not 
know. 

Maofh  Slecht  was  situated  either  in  Cavan  or  in  Leitrim. 
O'Donovan  thought  at  one  time  that  it  was  in  Cavan,  near 
Ballymagauran,  but  afterwards  wavered  in  this  view,  as 
Douglas  Hyde  tells  us.  ^^  Canon  O'Hanlon,  ^^  in  his  life  of  St. 
Patrick,  contends  that  Magh  Slecht  was  in  the  plains  of 
Leitrim,  not  far  from  Ballinamore,  near  Feenagh,  This  view 
has  much  to  recommend  it,  and  maybe  provisionally  accepted. 
The  district  is  noticed  by  Borlase,  who  refers  to  a  group  of 
monuments  within  a  mile  and  a  half  north  of  Lough  Saloch.  ^* 

^  These  idols  were  the  only  anthropomorphic  idols  found  by  St.  Patrick  in 
Erin.  Jocelyn's  story  of  the  twelve  idols  at  Cashel  is  merely  a  variant  of 
Magh  Slecht.     We  shall  refer  to  it  and  the  story  of  Tigerninas  later  on. 

•''1  Tripartita  Life— Stokes,  p.  91. 

'^  Literature  of  Ireland,  p.  86. 

*=*  O'Hanlon's  "Lives  of  Irish  Saints,"  vol.  iii.,  p.  581. 

**  Dolmen's,  vol  i.,  p.  194. 


so  EARLY   IRISH   HISTORY. 

Some  of  the  graves  there  were  opeued,  and  no  human  bones 
were  discovered.  The  bones  of  cows,  sheep,  and  horses,  were 
found  in  them  in  abundance.  O'Donovan  asks  did  men  ever 
erect  graves  over  cows  and  horses  ?  We  can  answer,  that  in 
France  ancient  tombs  have  been  found  without  human  bones. 
These  are  supposed  to  have  been  for  the  accommodation  of 
the  souls  of  men  who  died  in  war,  and  whose  bodies  could  not 
be  recovered.  Borlase  also  says,  "  there  must  have  been 
several  dolmens  among  this  group  of  monuments."  ^ 

The  account  of  this  idol  in  the  Dinnsenchus,  which  con- 
tains stories  and  legends  about  the  hills  and  famous  places  in 
Erin,  is  as  follows  : — "  Magh  Slecht :  'Tis  there  was  the  kinar 
idol  of  Erin — namely,  Crom  Cruaich,  and  around  him  twelve 
idols  made  of  stones,  but  he  was  of  gold.  Until  Patrick's 
advent  he  was  the  god  of  every  folk'  that  colonised  Ireland. 
To  him  they  used  to  offer  the  firstlings  of  every  issue  and  the 
chief  scions  of  every  clan."  36 

In  the  Book  of  Leinster  there  is  a  poem  on  this  subject, 
which  is,  no  doubt,  earlier  than  the  prose  Dinnsenchus,  which 
has  been  translated  by  Kuno  Meyer.^^  We  quote  the  following 
verses  from  it : — 

Here  used  to  be 

A  high  idol  with  many  fights, 

Which  was  n-aiiied  the  Cromm  Cruaich. 

It  made  every  tribe  to  be  without  peace. 

In  their  ranks  stood 

Four  times  three  stone  idols 

To  bitterly  beguile  the  boats. 

The  figure  of  this  Cromm  was  made  of  gold. 

To  him  without  glory 

They  would  kill  their  piteous,  wretched  offspring ss 

With  much  wailing  and  peril  1  [501I  7  sai-oJ 

To  pour  their  blood  around  Cromm  Cruaich. 

We  shall  now  refer  to  the  Semitic  or  Phoenician  cult. 

Though  there  is  sporadic  or  inferential  evidence  of  child 
sacrifice  in  many  parts  of  the  world,  the  Phoenicians  and  their 
colonists,  especially  the  Carthagenians,  are  the  one  civilized 

'^■'  Might  tombs  have  been  made  for  the  holocaiisted  ? 

^''  The  Rennes  Dindsenchus,  Rev.  Celt.,  vol.  xvi.,  p.  35. 

»•  The  Voyage  of  Bran,"  vol.  ii.,  p.  304. 

''■'  The  children  used  to  be  slaughtered  in  Israel  and  Phoenicia  before  being 
burue^A- 


WHAT  OUR   TEXTS   SAY.  31 

people  of  antiquity  of  whom  we  know  that  the  sacrifice  of 
their  own  children  was  practised,  not  as  an  occasional  recru- 
descence of  savage  superstition,  not  in  the  hole-and-corner 
rites  of  some  abominable  mystery,  but  as  an  established  and 
prominent  part  of  the  public  religion. 

Such  sacrifices  took  place  either  annually  on  an  appointed 
day  or  before  great  enterprises,  or  on  the  occasion  of  public 
calamities  to  appease  the  wrath  of  the  god,  i.e.,  Moloch,  the 
Fire  God.^^ 

From  Phoenicia  it  is  supposed  that  this  cult  was  introduced 
into  Judah.  The  offering  of  children  by  fire  in  the  Tophet  in 
the  Valley  of  Hinnom,  near  the  Temple  itself,  is  frequently 
referred  to  and  denounced  in  the  Old  Testament.  Jeremiah 
protests  repeatedly  that  Yahwe  had  not  enjoined  these  sacri- 
fices. The  people  of  Judah  built  the  Tophet  sanctuary  in  the 
Valley  of  Ben-Hinnom  "  to  burn  their  sons  and  daughters  with 
fire,  a  thing  Avhich  I  commanded  them  not,  nor  did  it  enter 
into  my  mind." 

Compare  now  the  ritual  in  Carthage  as  described  by 
Diodorus  Slculus  with  what  we  may  reasonably  infer  was  the 
ritual  at  Alagh  Slecht,  bearing  in  mind  that  the  custom  was  to 
slaughter  the  victims  before  burning  them  and  probably  to 
pour  the  blood  either  on  the  statue  or  round  it  or  on  the  altar. 
The  blood  was,  no  doubt,  the  most  precious  part  of  the  sacrifice. 

"  In  310,"  writes  Diodorus,  "when  Agathodes  had  reduced 
"  Carthage  to  the  last  extremities,  seeing  the  enemy  encamped 
"before  the  city,  they  {i.e.,  the  Carthaginians)  were  struck 
"  with  fear  of  the  gods  for  having  neglected  their  worship, 
"  and,  hastening  to  correct  their  mistakes,  they  selected  200 
"  of  their  most  distinguished  boys  {tUv  iTtKpavia-aTwv  7rd(owi')and 
''  sacrificed  them  as  public  victims.  2\ow  they  had  a  brazen 
^^  staUie  of  Cronos  (i.e.,  Malkorth  or  Moloch)  stretcldng  out  the  hands 
"  upturned,  and  bending  towards  the  aarth  so  that  the  boy  placed  upon 
"  them  would  roll  of  anl  fall  info  a  int  of  fire." 

\lv  CE  na^  alrolq  dvcpiuc  Kpopov  \^a\KoiJi  EK.rtrat.u>Q  rac  \t7paQ  vTrrlo' 
iyKiKXifiEvac  t/rt  7-171'  7^*',  wTrs  rov  iwi-tdivTa  tCjv  ira'icuiv  uTroKvKiiatiai 
sal  TrlTTTeiv  £tc  ri  ^oT^a  irXfiptQ  ■nvpo^.'^ 

^See  Moloch.     "Encyclopaedia  Biblica  Cheyne,"  and  Hastings'   "Diet  of 
Bible."     DoUinger  Judenthum  und  Haedenthum,  427. 

■io  Deodorus  Siculus  xx.,  14-5. — Dindorf,  1867,  Ed.,  vol.  iv.,  p.  163. 


32  EARLY   IRISH   HISTORY. 

If  the  idol  at  Magh  Slecht  was  black,  with  a  bloody  head 
stooped  forward,  it  is  difficult  to  resist  the  inference  that  it 
was  an  idol  of  the  same  character  and  for  the  purposes  of  the 
same  cult  as  that  practised  at  Carthage.  Nor  is  there  any 
difficulty  in  supposing  that  the  Phoenicians  had  intercourse 
with  Ireland.  At  an  early  period,  so  far  as  is  known,  they  had 
their  first  home  in  the  Persian  Gulf.  They  then  settled  in 
South  Arabia  and  Somaliland,  and  passed  up  the  Red  Sea  into 
Egypt,  thence  into  Philistia  and  Phoenicia,  and  then  pushed 
westward  across  the  Mediterranean,  following  the  lines  of 
water  communication  by  sea  or  river.  Phoenician  Kings  ruled 
in  Egypt  during  the  fifteenth  dynasty  (1928-1738)  and  during 
the  sixteenth  dynasty  (1587-1327).  In  the  Greek  traditions  it 
is  not  easy  to  separate  the  Phoenicians  from  the  Egyptians, 
and  the  Irish  tests  speak  of  an  Egyptian  but  not  of  a 
Phoenician  connection.  Whatever  truth  may  be  contained  in 
these  texts  must  be  explained  by  PhoBnician  relations  with 
Ireland. 

The  Phoenicians,  according  to  Mouers,  founded  Cadiz  as 
early  as  the  fifteenth  or  sixteenth  century  B.C.  Others  place 
the  date  some  centuries  later.  We  think  Mouers  is  likely  to 
be  right.  The  tendency  of  the  evidence  derived  from  recent 
excavations  and  researches  is  to  throw  back  those  dates.  We 
may  be  certain  that  the  Phoenicians  had  passed  through  the 
Pillars  long  before  they  founded  the  colony.^  There  can  be 
no  question  that  they  sailed  into  the  North  Sea,  trading  pre- 
sumably, amongst  other  things,  for  amber. *^  A  Phoenician 
merchant  won  the  favour  of  the  nurse  of  Eumaeus  by  the 
present  of  a  chain  hung  with  amber  beads. ^^ 

XpvTeof  dpfxov  i-^^jiov  fifTa  5'  i]X£Krpoi(Tiy  iepro. — (Odyssey,  15,  460.) 

This  amber  was  found  not  only  in  the  Baltic,  as  was 
formerly  supposed,  but  also  on  the  shores  of  Friesland  and  the 
neighbouring  islands  between  the  mouths  of  the  Rhine  and 
the  Elbe,  and  on  the  west  coast  of  Denmark.  Beads  said  to 
be  of  this  peculiar  amber  were  found  at  Mycenas,  and  in  the 
tombs  of  the  early  dynasties  in  Egypt.     Maspero  asks  how 

*'  Phoeaisches  Altertluun."  vol.  ii.,  2ncl  part,  p.  G25. 

*^  Rawiinsoa's  "  Phceaicea,"  p.  302. 

«"  Amber.     All  about  it."    J.  C.  Hacldon,  1892. 


WHAT  OUR   TEXTS  SAY.  53 

many  bands  they  passed  through.^*  If  they  were  sea-borne 
by  the  PhoBmcians  the  answer  is  not  difficult.  It  cannot  be 
proved  from  the  classical  texts  that  the  Phoenicians  passed 
through  the  Cattegat  into  the  Baltic,*^  and  as  there  was  plent}' 
of  amber  in  the  North  Sea  they  would  have  no  object  in  estab- 
lishing a  perilous  trade  route  into  it.  The  Baltic  trafSc  would 
thus  pass,  as  we  know  the  fact  was,  by  overland  routes,  by  the 
Vistula,  the  Danube  and  the  Rhine. 

"Without  the  trade  in  amber,"  says  M.  Oppert,^^  "the 
ancient  navigators,  especially  the  Phoenicians,  would  never 
have  heard  tell  of  the  Western  seas." 

The  Phoenicians  were  great  miners  and  metallurgists,  Mr. 
Borlase,  now  resident  manager  of  several  tin  reservations  in 
N.W.  Spain,  says  : — "  I  once  believed  the  Scilly  Islands  and 
"  the  Land's  End  district  were  in  truth  the  islands  {i.e.,  the 
"  Cassiterides),  being  unaware  that  tin  had  been  raised  in  any 
"  appreciable  quantity  in  Gallicia.  A  study  of  the  mineralogical 
"  features  of  North  Western  Spain  has  completely  altered  my 
"  views.  The  ancient  tin  workings  of  Gallicia  prove  to  be  of 
"  enormous  extent ;  that  it  was  from  the  bays  and  estuaries  of 
"  Ferrol,  Vigo,  etc.,  and  the  islands  of  Cycas,  Cies,  or  Boyona 
"  that  tin  first  found  its  way  to  the  Mediterranean  for  the  pur- 
"  poses  of  bronze  through  the  agency  of  Phoenician  merchants, 
"  I  feel  no  doubt ;  that  the  vague  district  over  the  sea,  namely, 
"  Cornwall,  was  soon  recognised  as  an  important  field  of  pro- 
"  duction  may  be  taken  for  granted  also."  ^'^ 

Borlase  pronounces  the  Spanish  tin  to  be  abundant  and  of 
superior  quality  to  that  now  produced  in  Cornwall.  So  it  does 
not  seem  clear  why  the  Phoenician,  having  plenty  of  a  superior 
metal  in  Spain,  should  have  recourse  to  Cornwall.  Nor  is  it 
clear  why,  having  an  abundance  of  the  finest  copper  ore  to 
hand  in  Spain,  they  should  not  manufacture  bronze,  which  is 
an  alloy  of  copper  and  tin,  on  the  spot.  We  venture  to  suggest 
that  bronze  was  first  manufactured  in  Spain  by  the  Phoenicians ; 
there  is  no  other  place  in  Europe  where  copper  and  tin  are 
found  together.     A  large  number  of  copper  celts  have  been 

^  Maspero's  "  Dawn  of  Civilization  "  (1897),  p.  393.  The  beads  found  in 
the  tombs  by  him  still  possessed  electrical  properties. 

^■^  Mullenhof  "  Deutsche  Altherthumkunde,"  I.,  215, 

*^Oppert,  Jules,  "L'Ambre  Jaune  chez  les  Assyrias,"  Paris,   1880. 

'■^  Borlase,  Dolmens,  vol  iii,,  p.   1,233  (N.B,  in  Appendix  after  Index). 

D 


34  EARLY   lEISH   HISTORY. 

found  in  Ireland  as  well  as  in  Spain  and  the  Cevennes,  indi- 
cating a  transition  period  between  the  stone  and  the  bronze 
age. 

The  Phcenicians  were  great  explorers.  Under  Necho, 
Pharaoh  of  Egypt  (611-595  B.C.),  they  circumnavigated  Africa. 
They  set  out  from  the  Red  Sea,  doubled  the  Cape  of  Good 
Hope,  having,  they  alleged,  the  tnin  on  their  right  hand,  and 
returned  through  the  Pillars  of  Hercules  after  an  absence  of 
three  years.  This  reference  to  the  sun  being  on  the  right 
hand  has  been  regarded  by  some  as  conclusive  evidence  of  the 
truth  of  the  story.  Herodotus  says  the  thing  was  to  him 
incredible,  though  he  believed  in  the  fact  of  the  circum- 
navigation. It  iSj  in  reality,  neutral  and  proves  nothing. 
The  Phoenicians  knew  perfectly  well  that  if  they  sailed  from 
East  to  West  so  far  South,  they  should  have  the  sun  on  their 
right  hand.  They  had  pushed  their  trade  East  and  South, 
and  an  inscription  in  the  Phcenician  tongue  has  been  found  in 
Borneo.  The  marvel  is  how  Herodotus,  if  he  went  as  far  south 
as  Syene,  where  the  sun  is  vertical  at  the  summer  solstice, 
could  have  found  any  difficulty  in  believing  the  statement. 
This  is  some  corroboration  of  Mr,  Sayce's  view  that  he  never 
went  so  far  south. 

Sometime  in  the  sixth  century,  two  expeditions,  which 
appear  to  be  in  a  measure  supplementary  to  the  former,  started 
from  Carthage.  The  first  was  commanded  by  Hanno.  This 
Periplus,  which  has  come  down  to  us  in  a  Greek  translation, 
states  "It  was  decreed  by  the  Carthagenians  that  Hanno 
should  undertake  a  voyage  beyond  the  Pillars  of  Hercules, 
and  there  found  Lybo-Phojnician  cities."  He  sailed  accord- 
ingly with  sixty  ships  of  fifty  oars  each,  and  a  body  of  men 
and  women  to  the  number  of  30,000  !  and  provisions  and  other 
necessaries.  The  Penteconlers  were  a  convoy  ;  the  men  and 
women  were  in  merchant  ships,  oXkuSeq.  The  number  appears 
to  be  excessive.  Possibly  it  should  be  3,000.  Hanno 
founded  the  colonies,  no  trace  of  which  remain,  and  on 
his  return  inscribed  the  particulars  of  his  voyage  on  a 
tablet,  which  he  dedicated  in  the  temple  of  Melkarth  at 
Carthage. 

The  second  expedition  was  commanded  by  Hamilco,  and 
sailed,  according  to  Pliny,  at  the  same  time  as  that  of  Hanno. 


WHAT  OUR   TEXTS   SAY.  35 

"  While  the  power  of  Carthage  was  at  its  height,*^  Hanno 
"  made  the  passage  round  from  Gades  to  the  borders  of  Arabia, 
"  and  left  a  written  account  of  his  voyage,  as  did  also  Hamilco, 
"  who  was  sent  out  at  the  same  time  to  explore  the  outer  coasts 
"  of  Europe,"  The  account  of  the  voyage  is  found  in  Avienus, 
who  was  pro-consul  in  Africa  in  866  AD.,  and  who  states  that 
he  took  it  from  the  archives  at  Carthage.^^ 

Hamilco  passed  through  the  Pillars,  and  sailed  to  the 
"  ^strymnides  rich  in  tin,"  which  W3  assume  wore  the  Cas- 
siterides  Islands,  off  Spain,  already  mentioned.  Hence  he 
laid  his  course  north,  and  m  two  su7is,  which  means  probably 
2  days  and  3  nights,  60  hours,  made  the  coast  of  Erin,  the 
distance  being  about  540  nautical  miles,  from  the  North  of 
Spain  to  the  South  of  Ireland. ^'^ 

The  account  in  Avienus  we  give  in  a  translation  :  "  But 
hence  (that  is,  from  the  yEstrymnides)  in  two  suns  the  ship's 
course  was  to  the  Sacred  Island,  for  so  it  was  named  of  old. 
This,  amidst  the  waves,  spreads  wide  its  soil ;  the  race  of  the 
Hiberni  cultivate  it  widely.  Near  it  again  the  island  of  the 
Albioni  is  spread."  ^^ 

"  Sacra,"  sacred,  is  in  Greek  hpa,  which  comes  near 
7rieipa[apov^a)  and  lepyt),  the  Gieok  name  for  Erin.  The  poetic 
licence  is  not  great. 

Avienus  adds  that  the  Carthaginian  colonists  and  seamen 
generally  passed  through  the  Pillars  inio  tha  Sbas,  which 
Himilco  reported  that  he  himself  had  found  by  experience 
could  not  be  crossed  in  less  than  four  mouths  owing  to  calms, 
the  sluggishness  of  the  watnrs,  and  the  vast  quantity  of  sea- 
v/eed.  The  sea  was  shallow,  and  wild  animals  and  sea 
monsters  abounded  as  the  ships  crept  along.     This  appears  to 

*3  Pliny,  N.  H.  II.,  67.      Et  Hanno  Carthaginis   potentia  fiorente   circum- 
vectus  a  Gadibu3  ad  finem  Arabise  navigationem  earn  prodidit  scripto,  sicut  ad 
extera  Europas  noscenda  missus  eodeia  tempore  Himilco. 
^^  Ora  Maritiraa,  103-112. 

™  Philip  O'Sullivan  Beare  says  in  1619,  the  voyage  from  Erin  to  France  took 
scarcely  more  than    two  days,  and  the  voyage    to    Spain    three    days.       The 
voyage  from  Kinsale  to  Corunna  in  Spain  was  frequently  made  in  the  time  of 
his"  uncle,  the  hero  of  Dunboy. — Decas  Patritiana,  161'J,  p.  21. 
^^  Ast  hine  duabus  in  sacram  (sic  insniam 
Dixcre  prisci)  solilus  cursus  rati  est 
Haec  inter  uudas  multa  cespitem  jacet 
Eamque  lala  gene  Hibernorum  colit 
Propinqua  riirsus  insula  Aluionura  patot. 

— Ora  -Marjtima,  v.,  108-112. 


86  EARLY   IRISH   HISTORY. 

indicate  pretty  clearly  the  Sargasso  Sea  in  the  centre  of  the 
North  Atlantic,  and  it  is  difficult  to  avoid  the  conclusion 
arrived  at  by  Vossius  that  America  would  have  been  reached 
only  for  "  the  enormous  floating  banks  of  gulfweed,  on  which 
a  large  number  of  pecular  animals  live,"  to  borrow  a  modern 
description  of  the  Sargasso  Sea.^^. 

However  this  may  be,  in  fact  we  present  the  view  merely 
as  a  probable  conjecture.  It  does  not  possess  the  quantity  or 
quality  of  probability  that  we  call  historical  truth.  The 
Phoenician  traders  had,  undoubtedly,  a  complete  know- 
ledge of  the  coast  round  Erin,  and  it  is  from  them  that 
Ptolemy  and  Marianus,  of  Tyre,  derived  their  information. ^^ 

We  have  devoted,  perhaps,  a  disproportionate  space  to  this 

part  of  our  subject  in  order  to  prepare  our  readers  for  the 

intelligent  appreciation  of  our  next  chapter.  In  the  penumbra 

of  legend  and  tradition  the  reader  will  be  able  to  see  his  way 

more  clearly  when  he  has  purged  his  mind  from  the  error  of 

believing  that  the  men  of  Erin  lived  in  a  state  of  isolated 

savagery,  practising  cannibalism,  and  sacrificing  their  children 

to  a  bloodthirsty  god. 

Note — 

The  referenee  to  Ireland  in  the  Agricola  may  be  conveniently  given 
here.  Tacitus  tells  us  that  his  father-in-law,  Agricola,  in  the  fifth 
year  of  his  campaign,  A.B.  82,  "  crossed  the  Frith  of  Clyde  in  the  first 
"  ship  (probablj'  when  navigation  commenced).  He  reduced  peoples 
"  hitherto  unknown  in  battles  at  once  frequent  and  successful,  and, 
"  equipped  with  troops  the  parts  of  Britain  which  look  towards  Ireland 
"  (probably  Calloway)  not  that  he  feared  an  attack,  but  rather  hoped 
"  (to  invade  tliat  country)  ;  since  Ireland  placed  in  the  middle  between 
"  Britain  and  Spain,  and  convenient  also  for  the  Gallic  Sea  would  unite 
"  the  soitndest  parts  of  the  Empire  (i.e.,  Britain  and  Spain,  etc.),  to 
"  their  mutual  advantage.    Its  size  is  rather  small  compared  to  Britain, 

^2  As  to  communication  with  America  by  the  Pacific  route  from  India,  via 
Malaysia  at  a  very  remote  period,  see  Professor  O.  T.  Masson's  Migration  and 
the  Food  Question;  a  study  in  the  peopling  of  America."  Washington,  IS04, 
and  L.  C.  Johnston — "  Did  the  Phoenicians  discover  America  ?  "  He  says  yes, 
and  that  they  laid  the  foundations  of  the  Aztic  civilization.  Geog.  Soc. 
CaliforFiia,  1892. 

^3  Brehmer,  in  his  "  Entdeckungen,"  1822,  first  insisted  strongly  on  this 
point.  He  was  opposed  by  Heereii,  in  an  essay  read  before  the  Royal  Society 
of  Gottingen  (1824).  Letronne  and  Askert  took  the  same  view.  Latham,  in 
his  article,  "  Brittanicffi  Insulae,"  without  referring  to  Brehmer,  obsers'ed  that 
Ireland  was  a  country  which,  so  far  as  it  was  known  at  all,  was  known 
through  the  Greeks,  the  Iberians,  and  Phtienicians.  Finally,  Nordskiold,  a  high 
authority,  in  his  Fac  Simile  Atlas  (1889),  p.  31,  col.  b),  adopts  Brehmer's  view 
— "  Trotz  det  stora  anseende  som  Heeren  med  raitta  atujuter  som  forskart  i  den 
grek^ska,  Kulturdestorien  tvekar  jag  ejatti  denna  fraga  i  Viss  man  stalla  mig 
pa  Brehmers  staindpunkt." 


WHAT   OUR   TEXTS   SAY.  37 

"but  is  greater  than  that  of  the  islands  in  our  sea  (^  e.,  the  Mediter- 
"  ranean.)  The  soil  climate  "  intellectuals  "  (ingenia)  and  habits  of  the 
"  people  do  not  differ  much  from  Britain ;  the  landinrj  places  and 
"  harbours  (differ)  for  the  better,  and,  are  well  known  thrcmgh  traders 
and  dealers."  Agricola  had  sheltered  one  of  their  chieftains  who  had 
been  exiled  in  consequence  of  their  civil  strife,  and  under  the  guise  of 
friendship  kept  him  to  use  him  when  wanted  (m  occasionem). 

I  have  often  heard  him,  i.e.,  Agricola,  say  that  "  with  one  legion  and 
a  few  auxiliaries  Ireland  could  be  put  down  and  held,  and  that  it  would 
be  an  advantage  against  Britain,  too,  if  the  Roman  arms  should  be  on 
all  sides,  and  liberty  put  away  out  of  sight. — Agricola,  c.  24. 

The  passage  we  have  translated  in  italics  stands  as  follows  in  tvv^o 
Vatican  MSS.,  and  in  the  Codex  Toletanus  (of  Toledo)  which  has  been 
recently  collated  by  Dr.  O.  Lenze  of  Tubingen.  (See  Philologus,  vol. 
8,  p.  549).  "  Solum,  coelumque  et  ingenia  cultusque  hominum  haud 
multum  a  Britannia  diflferunt ;  in  melius  aditus,  portusque  per  coni- 
mercia  et  negotiatores  cogniti."  Tins  text  presents  no  ditKculty,  if  (a) 
differunt  can  be  supplied  according  to  the  usage  of  Tacitus  from  the 
preceding  clause,  and  (6)  if  "  difterunt  in  melius "  can  be  translated 
"  differ  for  the  better."  Tacitus  has  in  melius  referre  and  "  in  melius 
nuitatue,"  and  we  have  found  in  the  De  Civitate  Dei  the  following : — 
"  Quod  si  ita  est  ecce  Platonicus  in  melius  a  Platone  dissentit  {i.e., 
diffei's  in  opinion  from  Plato  for  the  better).  Ecce  videt  quod  ille  (i.e., 
Plato)  non  vidit."— De  Civitate  Dei,  Book  10,  c.  30. 

Halm's  suggestion  that  the  words  interiora  parum  have  dropped 
out  of  the  text — that  is,  "  the  interior  of  the  country  is  little  known, 
the  landing  places  and  harbours  are  better  known,"  has  nothing  to 
recommend  it,  if  true,  the  learned  Professor  will  have  succeeded  in 
placing  in  the  text  of  Tacitus  the  only  platitude  to  be  found  there. 

The  superiority  of  Ireland  in  the  matter  of  harbours  was  greatly 
relied  on  in  the  evidence  given  before  the  Committee  of  the  British 
Privy  Council  when  the  commercial  relations  between  the  two  countries 
were,  at  the  end  of  the  eighteenth  century,  under  consideration. 
English  manufacturers  were  to  be  ruined,  etc.,  it  was  contended,  if 
equal  advantages  were  conceded  to  the  Irish. — See  Newenham's  "  View 
of  Ireland,"  1809,  p.  14. 

A  note  of  a  technical  character  may  find  a  place  here  to  state  and 
answer  an  objection  that  may  be  fairly  made.  The  objection  is  :  If 
the  Phoenicians  had  the  full  knowledge  you  suggest  of  the  British  Isles, 
how  came  it  to  pass  that  Ptolemy,  who  had  that  knowledge  communi- 
cated to  him,  has  so  misdescribed  the  northern  part  of  Britain  ?  The 
answer  is  :  Ptolemy  was  primarily  an  astronomer,  as  a  perusal  of  his 
first  chapter  and  his  Almagest  will  plainly  show.  On  astronomical 
grounds,  principally  on  inferences  from  the  length  of  the  longest  day 
which  he  gives  for  Big  and  Little  Britain  in  the  Almagest,  he  placed 
the  British  Isles  about  5  degrees — say  300  miles — too  far  north.  The 
northern  limit  of  the  oiKovfitvri  was  also  a  fixed  line  for  his  calculations, 
the  details  about  which  cannot  be  given  here.  When  he  approached 
this  line  in  preparing  the  tables  given  in  his  second  chapter  (which  we 
shall  call  his  map,  though  no  map  is  known  to  have  been  made  in  his 
time),  and  compared  the  space  left  with  the  distances  in  the  itineraries 


S8  EARLY   IRISH   HISTORY. 

•of  the  Phoenicians,  he  found  that  these  distances  would  not  fit  in  north* 
"wards.  So  he  crumpled,  contorted,  and  turned  eastwards  the  configur- 
ation of  the  land  on  his  map  to  make  it  fit  in.  Now  the  proposition 
for  which  we  contend  is  the  result  of  a  careful  and  minute  examination 
of  that  configuration,  and  the  place-names  given  bj  Ptolemy,  and  a 
comparison  of  both  with  present  conditions.  It  is  this  on  which  we 
invite  the  judgment  of  men  better  equipped  for  the  task  than  we  are — 
viz.,  that  if  these  crura plings,  contortions,  and  twistiugs,  were  shaken  out 
and  rectified,  it  would  be  reasonable  to  infer  that  the  tables  or  itiner- 
aries of  the  Phconicians  were  as  accurate  for  North  Britain  as  they 
were  for  South  Britain  nnd  lerne.  It  is  important  also  to  note  here 
that  he  attaches  the  "  Ebudce  "  (Hebrides),  which  were  no  doubt  the 
"  glacialis  lerne  "  of  Claudian  to  the  Map  of  lerne. 


[     39     ] 


CHAPTER    III, 

The  Coming  of  the  Gael. 

IN  Spain  there  Avere  born  to  Breogan  two  sons,  Bile  and  Ith. 
Bile   was  the  father  of  Golamh  (the    soldier),  who   was 

afterwards  known  as  Milesius,  or  Miled,  of  Spain.  When 
Golamh  (Gollav)  grew  up  he  went  on  his  wanderings  :  first  to 
Scythia,  where  he  married  Sreng,  the  daughter  of  the  king ; 
and  afterwards  to  Egypt,  where  he  married  Scota,  the 
dausfhter  of  the  Pharaoh  Nectonibus.  The  descendants  of 
Breogan  prospered  in  Spain,  and  multiplied ;  but  hard  times 
came,  and  there  was  a  great  drought  for  twenty-five  years, 
and  a  famine,  and  their  strength  was  wasted  in  conflicts  with 
other  tribes  for  the  sovereignty  of  Spain.  So  they  held  a 
council  at  Breogan's  Tower,  near  Corunna,  to  determine  what 
country  they  should  invade.  It  was  resolved  to  send  Ith  to 
reconnoitre  the  island  of  Erin  ;  not,  as  some  assert,  because  he 
had  seen  it  like  a  white  cloud  on  a  winter's  night  from  the  top 
of  Breogan's  Tower.  The  position  of  the  island  was  well 
known  to  the  inhabitants  of  Spain ;  and  there  was  trading 
between  the  two  countries.  Ith  then  sailed  to  Erin  with  150 
men,  and  landed  in  the  north,  where  some  of  the  country-folk 
came  to  meet  him — and  accosted  him  in  the  Scot-bearla,  or 
Gaelic.  He  answered  them  in  the  same  tongue.  They  told 
him  that  the  three  sons  of  Kermad  Milbeol  (of  the  honey 
tongue),  the  son  of  the  Dagda,  ruled  the  land  year  about  in 
turn,  and  kept  court  at  Aileach. 

Thither  went  Ith  thereupon,  and  was  received  by  the 
kings  with  the  "thousand  welcomes."  He  was  loud  in  his 
praises  of  the  great  fertility  of  the  soil  :  abounding  in  honey, 
and  in  fruit,  and  in  fish,  and  in  milk,  and  in  vegetables,  and 
in  corn,  whilst  the  air  was  of  so  pleasant  a  temperature — 
between  heat  and  cold.  This  aroused  the  suspicions  of  the 
kings.  They  feared  that  if  he  was  allowed  to  depart  in  safety 
he  would  come  back  with  a  large  army.  On  his  way  to  the 
shore  he  was  waylaid  and  attacked,  and  borne  to  his  ship 
mortally  wounded.     He  died  at  sea,  on  his  voyage  back  to 


40  EARLY   IRISH  HISTORY. 

Spain.     To  avenge  his   death,  and   seize  Erin,   the   sons   of 
Golamh  mustered  a  fleet  of  thirty  ships,  in  each  of  which 
there  were  thirty  men,  and  sailed  for  Erin.     On  making  land 
at  Inver  Slainge  (Wexford)  the  Dedananns  threw  a  magic 
mist  around  them,  and  with  spells  drove  them  away  from  the 
shore.       They  then  sailed  along  the  south  of  the  island,  and 
landed  at  Inver  Sceine  (Kenmare  Bay),  whence  they  marched 
to  Slieve  Mish,  in  Kerry.      Here  they  were  met  by  one  of  the 
three  queens.     Amergin,  asked  her  name.      "Banba  is  my 
name,"  replied  she,  "  and  from  me  the  island  is  called  Banba." 
They  then  marched  to  Slieve  Eiblinn  (Phelim)  in  Limerick, 
and  met  Fodhla,  another  queen.     Amergin  asked    her  her 
name.     "  My  name  is  Fodhla,"  replied  she,  "  and  from  me  the 
island  is  called  Fodhla."       They  then  marched  to  Uisneach, 
and  met  Eri.     Amergin  asked  her  her  name.       "  My  name  is 
Eri,"  replied  she,  "  and  from  me  the  island  is  called  Eri ;  the 
queen  of  the  king  for  the  year  gives  her  name  to  the  king- 
dom."  They  then  marched  to  Tara,  where  they  met  the  three 
kings,  and  demanded  battle  or  the  kingdom.       The  kings 
objected,  but  agreed  to  leave  the  matter  to  the  decision  of 
Amergin,  the  son  of  Golamh,  adding,  that  if  he  pronounced 
an  unjust  judgment  they  would  kill  him  with  magic.     He 
decided  that  the  Gael  should  retire  to  the  coast,  and  set  out 
nine  waves  to  sea ;  and  then,  if  they  could  effect  a  landing 
in  spite  of  the  Dedananns,  they  should  possess  the  land.    The 
Gael  then  retired,  and   went  out  beyond   the  tenth  wave, 
when  the  foe   raised   a    tempest    by    magic   and    dispersed 
their  fleet.      There  were   eight  sons  of  Golamh   on    board 
these  ships.       All  but  three,  Eber,  Eremon,  and  Amergin, 
perished. 

rive  of  these  sons  were  sunk  in  the  wave, 
Five  of  the  stalwarth  sons  of  Golamh, 
In  song  loving  Eri's  spacious  bays, 
Thro'  Danann  wiles  and  Druidic  spells. 

Eber  landed  with  the  crews  of  his  ships  in  Kerry,  and 
fought  a  battle  at  Slieve  Mis,  near  Tralee,  and  routed  the 
enemy.  Scota,  the  wife  of  Golamh,  was  amongst  the  slain. 
She  was  buried  in  the  valley  of  Glen  Scoithen,  near  the  scene 
of  the  battle,  where  her  tomb  is  still  pointed  out.     A  second 


THE  COMING  OF  THE  GAEL.  41 

and  decisive  battle  was  shortly  afterwards  fought  at  Tailtin  in 
Meath,  in  which  Banba,  Fodhla,  and  Eri,  with  their  husbands, 
were  slain,  and  the  Dananns  almost  annihilated. 

Fodhla  was  slain  by  the  boastful  Etan, 

Banba  was  slain  by  the  victoi",  Caicher, 

Eri,  the  bounteous,  fell  by  Surghi, 

Of  these  famed  heroines  such  was  the  dire  doom. 

Eber  and  Eremon  then  assumed  the  joint  sovereignty  of 
the  island,  and  divided  it  between  them,  Eremon  taking  the 
northern  half.  Next  year  they  quarrelled  and  fought  a  battle 
near  Geashill,  in  the  King's  County,  in  which  Eber  was 
defeated  and  slain.  Eremon  then  became  sole  king,  and 
reigned  fourteen  years.  This  was  the  taking  of  Erin  by  the 
Gael.i 

The  pedigrees  of  the  Gael  are  all  traced  up  to  one  or  other 
of  the  three  sons  of  Golamh,  i.e.,  Eber,  Eremon,  and  Ir,  or  to 
Lugaid,  the  son  of  Ith,  his  nephew ;  or  to  vary  the  statement, 
so  as  to  bring  it  nearer  to  the  probable,  under  these  eponymi 
were  arranged  all  the  several  tribes  and  families  who,  in  the 
opinion  of  the  annalist,  constituted  the  Gael  of  Erin.  As 
regards  the  previous  history  of  the  Gael,  the  synchronists  and 
the  etymologists  revel  in  supplying  us  with  facts.  Finius 
Farsa,  fourth  in  descent  from  Japhet,  was  king  of  Syria,  and 
kept  a  great  school  for  teaching  languages,  as  did  his  son 
Niall,  the  father  of  Gaedal  Glas,  from  whom  the  Gael  are 
named.  Nial  and  Gaedal  Glas  met  Aaron  and  Moses  in  Egypt. 
Moses  healed  Gaedal  from  the  bite  of  a  serpent.  Eber  Scot 
was  the  great  grandson  of  Gaedal  Glas,  and  the  opinion  of 
antiquaries  was  divided  as  to  whether  the  Gael  were  called 
Scots  from  him,  or  because  they  came  from  Scythia.  The 
etymologists  could  not,  of  course,  resist  the    temptation  of 


1 

1 

1           Breogan 

Bile 

1 
Golamh— Scota 

Ith 

i 
Lugaid 

1 

1 

Eber  Finn 
(the  Fair) 

2 
Eremon 

1 
3 

Amergia 

1 
4 

It  (drowned) 

Heber 
Breogan  23td  in  descent  from  Japhet ! 


42 


EARLY   IRISH   HISTORY. 


allesfing:  that  the   Gael   were    called    the    "  Cinead    Scuit " 
(Scots)  because  they  came  from  Scit-ena  (Scythia).- 

What  race  of  men  were  the  Gael  ?  Anthropologists  sa}'' 
that  hereditary  tj^pes  constitute  a  race,  and  that  traits  are 
associated  to  form  these  types.  Ripley,  following  the  majority 
of  anthropologists,  makes  a  three-fold  division  of  the  races  of 
Europe  into  Teutonic,  Alpine  or  Celtic,  and  Mediterranean. 
Deniker  differs  from  all  others  in  combining  his  three  separate 
physical  traits  into  six  principal  races  and  four  or  more  sub- 
races.  This,  however,  is  a  difference  of  method  of  classification 
rather  than  one  of  substance,  and  the  three-fold  classification, 
as  set  forth  in  the  subjoined  table,  is  convenient  and  adequate 
for  our  purpose.^ 

European  Racial  Types.* 


Head. 

Face. 

Hair. 

Eyes. 

Stature. 

Nose. 

1.  Xordic   or 
Teutonic. 

Long 

Long 

Very  light 

Blue 

Tall 

AquiUne 

2.  Alpine  or 
Celtic. 

Round 

Broad 

Light 
chestnut 

Hazel 

grey 

Medium, 
Stocky 

Variable, 
rather 
broad, 
heavy 

3.  Mediterranean 

Long 

Long 

Dark  brown 
or  black 

Dark 

Medium, 
Slender 

Rather 
broad 

This  table  shows  the  combination  of  traits  into  racial  types. 
It  speaks  for  itself. 

The  Gael  were  not  Celts.  "  Whatever  be,"  says  Ripley, 
"  the  state  of  opinion  among  students  of  other  cognate  sciences, 
there  is  practically  to-day  a  complete  unanimity  of  opinion 
among  physical  anthropologists  that  the  term  Gelt,  if  used  at 
all,  belongs  to  the  second  of  our  three  races,  viz. — the  broad- 
headed  (brachycephalic),  darkish  population  of  the  Alpine 
Highlands.  Such  is  the  view  of  Broca,  Bertrand,  Topinard, 
CoUignon,  and  all  the  French  authorities.     It  is  accepted  by 

"  In  the  Gaelic  tongue  gAel  meant  kindred.  The  Cymri  (combrox)  meant 
compatriots.  May  gAinet  and  gAel  be  connected  ?  The  obvious  is  some- 
time unseen  by  the  eye  that  is  searching  for  the  obscure. 

^  Ripley,  Appendix,  D.,  p.  507. 

*  See  Ripley,  W.  "  The  Races  of  Europe,"  p.  121.  Nordic  is  the  term  used 
by  Deniker.  The  Alpine  race  includes  the  Celtic  wedge  which  split  the  Volcae 
into  two  divisions  and  passed  westwards  to  the  Channel  between  the  quadriia* 
teral  of  Lug.  as  described  in  the  first  chapter. 


THE  COMING  OF  THE  GAEL.  43 

the  Germans,  Virchow,  KoUmann  and  Ranke,  as  Xvell ;  by  the 
English  (foremost  among  them  by  Dr.  Beddoe),  and  by  the 
most  competent  Italians."  ^     Prior  to  1860,  the  leading  ethno- 
logists asfreed,  in  deference  to  classical  texts,  in  affiliating  the 
Celts  of  early  history  with  the  tall,  blonde  peoples  of  Northern 
Europe— the  Nordic  race  of  Deniker.     Subsequent  investiga- 
tions have  shown  the  fallacy  of  this,  but  the  terms  "Celtic 
race  "  still  linger  around  the  Gael,  who  were  most  indubitably 
part  and  parcel  of  the  tall,  blonde,  long-headed  Nordic  race. 
Tacitus,  who  is,  no  doubt,  recording  the  observation  and  in- 
ferences  of  his   father-in-law,   Agricola,   tells   us  that   when 
Agricola  came  as  Governor  to  Britain  in  A.D.  78,  the  Brigantes, 
who  had  been  in  a  great  measure  reduced  to  subjection,  occu- 
pied the  territory  between  the  Humber  and  the  Clyde,     We 
have  seen  that  a  tribe  bearing   the  same  name  is  mentioned 
by   Ptolemy  as  located  in  the  south-east  of  lerne,  and  the 
fugitive  chief  entertained  by  Agricola,  as  we  have  already 
mentioned,  may  have  belonged  to  that  tribe  and  taken  refuge 
with  his  namesakes  in  North  Britain.     Agricola  had  also  con- 
ducted a  campaign  against  the  Silures   in  Wales,  and  had 
previously  seen  much  active  service  in  Britain  in  subordinate 
commands.     The  statements  of  Tacitus  are,  therefore,  entitled 
to  great  weight.     He  says  : — "  For  instance,  the  ruddy  hair 
and  larcre  limbs  of  the  inhabitants  of  Caledonia  demonstrate 
their  German  origin.     The  dark  faces  of  the  Silures  (in  South 
Wales  and  Monmouthshire),  their  generally  curly  hair,  and 
the  fact  that  Spain  lies  opposite  to  them,  make  one  believe  that 
the  Spaniards  of  old  times  passed  over  and  occupied  these 
parts.     The  Britons,  who  are  nearest  to  the  Gauls,  are  also 
like  them."  ^ 

Boadicea  or  Boudicca,  Queen  of  the  Iceni  (Norfolk  and 
Suffolk),  bears  a  Latin  name  that  comes  very  close  in  sound  to 
Boadach  or  Buadach,  often  found  as  an  epithet  of  Gaelic 
warriors,  and  meaning  victorious.  Dion  Casseus  describes  her 
as  follows  : — "  She  was  of  large  size,  terrible  of  aspect,  savage 
of  countenance,  harsh  of  voice,  with  a  profusion  of  flowing 

"  Riple}',  126. 

^  Jsamque  rutilae  Calodoniam  habitantiura  comae,  magni  artus  Germanicam 
originem  adseverant.  Silurum  colorati  vultus,  torti  plerumque  criues.  Agricola, 
c.  11. 


44  EARLY    IRISH   HISTORY. 

yellow  hair,  which  fell  down  to  her  hips ,  a  large  golden  collar 
on  her  neck,  a  variegated  flowing  vest  drawn  close  about  her 
bosom,  and  a  thick  mantle  fastened  by  a  clasp  or  brooch,  and 
a  spear  in  her  hand."  '^ 

A  companion  picture  is  to  be  found  in  Queen  Meve  of 
Connact,  her  predecessor  in  time  by,  perhaps,  a  century.  She 
is  thus  described  in  the  Tain  : — "  A  beautiful  pale,  long-faced 
woman,  with  long  flowing  golden  yellow  hair,  upon  her  a 
crimson  cloak,  fastened  with  a  brooch  of  gold  over  her  breast, 
a  straight  ridged  slegh  or  light  spear  blazing  red  in  her  hand." 

This  was  the  ideal  as  well  as  the  real  type  of  beauty  with 
the  file's  who  composed  the  sagas.  Edain,  daughter  of  Etar,  a 
Dedanann  chief,  "  had  two  golden  yellow  tresses  on  her  head, 
each  of  them  plaited  with  four  locks  or  strands,  and  a  ball  of 
gold  on  the  point  of  each  tress.  The  colour  of  that  hair  was 
like  the  flowers  of  the  bog  firs  in  summer,  or  like  red  gold 
immediately  after  receiving  its  coining."  Cuculainn  had  yellow 
hair  and  blue  eyes.  In  the  description  of  the  Gaelic  chieftains 
by  MacRoth  in  the  Tain,  nearly  all  are  described  as  having 
yellow  hair,  and  the  men  of  Muirtheimne  3,000  blood  red 
furious  warriors,  had  "  long,  fair,  yellow  hair,  and  splendid 
bright  countenances !  "  Some  of  the  chieftains,  however,  are 
described  as  having  black  hair,  which  was  not  then  held  in 
dis-esteem  as  MacFirbis  represents  in  later  times. 

"  On  the  authority  of  old  sayings  of  people  learned  in 
history,"  MacFirbis  writes  : — "  The  dark,  the  loud  voiced,  the 
contumelious,  the  talkative,  the  vociferous,  the  fierce,  the 
unteachable,  the  slave,  the  liar,  the  churlish,  and  all  who 
listen  not  to  music  or  melody,  the  violators  of  covenants  and 
laws,  and  the  accusers  of  all  are  the  descendants  of  the 
Firvolg,  the  Gaillians,  the  Liogmuine,  and  the  Fir-Domnan  ; 
but  mostly  of  the  Firvolg  ut  dictum."  If  MacFirbis  had 
weighed  the  evidence  contained  in  our  texts  instead  of  listen- 
ing to  the  "  old  sayings "  of  other  folk,  he  would  have 
corrected  the  ignorance  of  those  old  people. 

Some  of  the  bravest  soldiers  came  from  the  stock  of  the 
Firvolce.     Ferdiad  was  a  Roland  if  Cuchulain  was  an  Oliver. 

'  buAix),  victory,  =  bu-oi  boAt)4c  or  boAT)<i5  =  victorious.  Muellenhofi  has 
trrced  the  presence  of  the  Celtic  tongue  east  of  the  Weser,  and  the  Iceni, 
immigrating  from  the  continent  opposite,  probably  spoke  Celtic  of  the  Gaelic 
type.     Deutsche  Alterthumskunde,  vol.  II.,  map,  Table  I. 


THE  COMING  OF  THE  GAEL.  45 

The  Clanna  Morna  were  as  brave  as  the  Clanna  Baoiscne, 
better  known  as  the  Fianna  of  Finn,  the  son  of  Cumhal  (Cool) 
and  the  grandson  of  Baoiscne  (Bweesh-cne).  Nor  were  black 
hair  and  blue  eyes  an  obstacle  to  success  in  other  fields  of 
rivalry,  Naoise  (Neesh-e)  was  seen  and  loved  by  the  cloistered 
Deirdre,  and  Diarmaid  O'Duibhne  carried  oft"  King  Cormac's 
daughter  from  the  betrothal  feast  of  the  implacable  Finn 
himself. 

Conaire  Mor  (100  B.C.)  had  curly  yellow  locks,  and  black 
pupils  in  blue  eyes.  Nial  of  the  Nine  Hostages  mounted  the 
enchanted  stone  at  Tara  in  the  year  370  A.D. 

"  Yellow  as  the  Sobarche  (St.  John's  Wort)  was  the  yellow 
hair  which  was  on  the  head  of  the  son  of  Cairen,"  a  Saxon 
aditionelle  of  the  Ard  Righ  ;  his  "  one  wife  "  being  Mongfinn,^ 
also  a  fair-haired  lady,  as  the  name  indicates.  From  this  time, 
it  may  be  safely  asserted  that  there  was  not  a  single  Gaelic 
family  without  "  ruadh,"  or  red  hair  figuring  constantly  in  its 
pedigree.  The  "  dubh,"  or  black-haired,  were  also  conspicuous 
owing  to  the  intermarriages  between  the  Gael  and  the 
Firvolce.  There  were  many  "ingeAnA  -ouitie"  besides  the 
Scotch  lassie  (ineen  duv)  who  was  wedded  to  Red  Hugh 
O'DonnelL 

Giraldus  Cambrensis,  who  visited  Ireland  at  the  close  of 
the  12th  century,  and  spent  two  years  there,  says  :  "  The  men 
were  majestic,  but  the  other  animals  were  small.  The  men 
were  very  tall  and  handsome  of  body,  with  ruddy  com- 
plexions." ^ 

The  type  is  well  exemplified  in  the  portrait  of  Eoghan 
Ruadh  O'Neill  by  the  celebrated  Dutch  artist,  Brugens.  The 
colour  of  the  hair  is  not  decidedly  red  in  the  picture  but 
approaching  to  it.  It  was  painted  whilst  he  was  serving  in 
Flanders,  probably  about  the  time  he  defended  Arras,  1640,  in 
command  of  an  Irish  regiment  in  the  Spanish  service,  where 
he  showed  the  characteristics  attributed  by  Spenser  to  his 
fellow-countrymen  :  "  Circumspect  in  their  enterprises,  very 
present  in  perils,  great  scorners  of  death."     *  These  be  the 

^  tnons,  hair,  and  pinn,  fair. 

®  "  Solis  liominibus  suam  retenentibns  majestatem— pulcherrimis  et  proceris 
corporibus  coloratissimis  vultibus."  An  engraving  of  it  will  be  found  in  the 
Ulster  Journal  of  ArchiEology,  vol.  iv. 


46  EARLY   IRISH   HISTORT. 

men,'  writes  St.  Leger  to  Henry  VIIL,   'that  don't  lightly 
abandon  the  field,  but  bide  the  brunt  to  the  death.'  " 

Fynes  Moryson  says  the  cattle  in  Ireland  were  very  little, 
"  and  only  the  men  and  the  greyhounds  of  any  great  stature." 
Dyinoke  says,  at  the  end  of  the  16th  century,  "  Of  complexion 
the  Irish  are  clear  and  well  favoured,  both  men  and  women 
tall  and  corpulent  {i.e.,  with  large  frames)  bodies."  O'Donovan 
collected    many  accounts  of  Irish   giants.      Amongst   them 
were,    I    may    mention,    Morgan    Kavanagh,     Governor     of 
Prague,    in  1766,  said    to    be    the    tallest   man    in    Europe. 
His    relatives    were    described    by    Professor    Neimann,    of 
Vienna,   in    1844,   as  the  tallest    men    in    Germany.      The 
O'Dowdas  of  Hy  Fiachra  "  counted  24  castles  on  their  exten- 
sive estate,  many  of  which  are  still  in  existence,  and  they 
have  a  burial  place  appropriated  to  them  in  the  Abbey  of 
Moyne,  where  may  be  seen  the  gigantic  bones  of  some  of  them, 
who  have  been  remarkable  for  their  great  stature,  one  of  them 
having  exceeded  seven  feet  in  height.     One  of  the  family, 
William  O'Driscoll,  who  died  in  1851,  is  described  as  being  in 
pitch  of  body  like  a  giant.      O'Donovan  refers  also   to   Big 
Magratb,  whose  skeleton  is  now  in  Trinity  College,  Dublin ; 
to  Florence  Macarthy,"  taller  by  a  head  and  shoulders  than  his 
fellows.^" 

We  must  not  omit  here  a  story  from  Holinshed.  The 
Irishmen  would  never  give  quarter,  and  therefore  whenever 
the  Frenchmen  took  any  of  them  they  gelded  them,  and  other- 
wise tormented  them.  After  the  surrender  of  Bulloign 
(Boulogne)  (1544  a.d.),  a  large  Frenchman  on  the  other  side  of 
the  haven  braved  and  deried  the  English  army,  whereupon 
one  Nicholas  (Irish)  did  swim  over  the  river  and  cut  off  the 
Frenchman's  head,  and  brought  it  back  over  the  river  in  his 
mouth,  for  which  bold  action  he  was  bountifully  rewarded." 

As  to  light  hair  and  light  eyes,  the  proportions  per  cent.,  as 
o-iven  by  the  Anthropometric  Committee  for  1892-3,  are 
"  Ireland,  47.4 ;  Scotland,  46.3  ;  England,  40.1 ;  Wales,  34.60." 
The  figures  for  Ireland,  of  course,  take  in  the  whole  popula- 
tion, comprising  many  ethnic  elements  besides  the  Gaelic,  e.g., 

1°  O'Donovan,  Physical  Characteristics  of  the  Ancient  Irish. — Ulst.  Jour. 
Arch?e.,  vol.  vi.,  p.  101. 

"  Holinshed's  Chronicle.,  I.  103.      Cox  Hist.  Anglie,  p.  277. 


THE  COMING  OF  THE  GAEL.  47 

the  Firvolce  "  and  the  dark-haired  admixture  from  England, 
with  concave  noses  in  many  cases."  ^"' 

A  distinctive  feature  of  the  Teutonic  or  Nordic  race  is  its 
prominent  or  narrow  nose.  The  association  of  tall  stature 
with  a  narrow  nose  is  so  close  as  to  point  to  a  law.  From  the 
north  of  Europe,  as  we  go  south,  the  nose  becomes  flatter  and 
more  open  at  the  wings.  As  regards  the  Irish,  Beddoe  writes  : 
"  The  concave  noses  are  far  from  being  as  common  as  is  sup- 
posed. The  really  predominant  form  is  the  long,  sinuous,  and 
prominent,  especially  at  the  point.  In  Ireland,  and  in  East 
and  North  England,  the  concave  nose  is  only  18  per  cent., 
while  in  Gloucestershire  and  in  Denmark  it  is  20,  and  in 
Sweden,  26  per  cent,"  ^^ 

Deniker  says — The  mean  height  of  the  races  of  Europe  is 
never  low ;  on  the  other  hand  the  races  of  great  stature  are 
numerous.  In  some  districts,  especially  in  Bosnia,  in  Scot- 
land, and  in  Ireland,  it  reaches  m.  1*72,  or  even  the  incredible 
figure  of  m.  1'76,  m.  178  in  the  counties  of  Perth  and  Berwick  ; 
and  in  Galloway  the  maximum  of  humanity. i*  Galloway  is 
an  extensive  district  in  the  south-west  of  Scotland,  70  miles 
long  by  40  broad,  comprised  mainly  in  Wigtonshire.  It  owes 
its  name  to  the  fact  that  the  inhabitants  were  called  GoU-Gael 
or  foreign  Gael,  a  name  equivalent  to  our  "  Sea-divided  Gael," 
and  applicable  to  the  Gaelic  Septs  in  Alba  and  the  Hebrides. 

Of  the  physical  traits  which  betoken  race,  the  head  form 
is  the  most  permanent.  Pigmentation  and  stature  are  less 
reliable.  The  head  form  is  ascertained  by  expressing  the 
breadth  in  per-centage  of  the  length  from  front  to  back.  This 
is  called  the  Cephalic  index.^^    In  Deniker' s  list  of  Cephalic 

12  See  •'  The  Irish  People,  their  Height,  Form,  and  Strength."  E.  Hogan, 
S.J.,  1897. 

"  Beddoe  "  Races  of  Britain,"  236.     Mem.  Anthrop.  Soc,  vol.  iii.,  238. 

"  Deniker"  L'Anthropologie,"  1898,  vol.  ix.,  122.  "  Lss  Races  de  I'Europe,'' 
Note  preliminaire. 

1^  The  general  form  of  the  skull  or  brain  case  is  oval,  but  may  be 
modified  so  as  to  become  round  and  broad,  or  elongated  and  elliptical.  These 
changes  of  form  are  indicated  by  the  Cephalic  or  cranial  index.  The  Cephalio 
index  is  ascertained  by  multipljdng  the  breadth  by  100  and  dividing  by  the 
leafth,  and  two  units  are  allowed  for  the  difference  between  a  bare  skull  and 
one' with  flesh  and  muscle.  Retzius  divided  these  skulls  into  long  heafls  and 
broad  heads.  The  former  (dolichocephalic)  where  the  index  figure  reached  79 
inclusive,  and  all  above  that  figure  were  classed  as  broadheads  (brachycephalic). 
There  are  also  sub -divisions  or  modifications  of  this  system  which  do  not  require 
notice  here. 


48  EARLY    IRISH    HISTORY. 

indices,  the  Scotch  Gael  (Highlanders)  head  the  list  of  long- 
heads at  76'3.  The  Irish,  however,  run  them  very  close  at 
77*3,  which  figure  an  average  taken  from  a  greater  number  of 
the  population  would  probably  modify.  The  Gael  thus  fulfil 
all  the  conditions  he  lays  down  for  membership  of  the  great 
Nordic  race,  of  which  the  following  is  an  abridged  summary  j 

The  Nordic  race  is  blonde,  long-headed,  of  gfeat  height.  "We  may 
call  it  the  Nordic,  because  its  representatives  are  grouped  almost  ex- 
clusively in  the  north  of  Europe.  Its  permanent  traits  or  characteristics 
are  the  following : — It  is  very  tall  (average  m.  1  -73).  The  hair  is  blonde 
or  often  reddish  (roussatres),  the  eyes  clear,  mostly  blue,  the  head  long, 
dolichocephalic  (index  on  living  from  76  to  79),  the  skin  white-rosy,  the 
face  long,  with  nose  prominent  and  straight. 

In  this  division  he  includes  the  Irish,  except  the  inhabi- 
tants of  the  north-west  of  the  island.  It  must  be  always  borne 
in  mind  that  in  applying  the  results  yielded  by  the  statistical 
inquiries  of  anthropologists  at  the  present  day  to  the  past, 
account  must  be  taken  of  historical  considerations.  Fortune 
has  dealt  hard  measure  to  the  Gael.  The  greatness  of  the  race 
is  now  attested  by  its  ruius.^^ 

1®  Deniker,  ubi,  supra,  123. 


[    49     ] 


CHAPTER  IV. 
The  Gael. 

IN  prehistoric  as  well  as  in  historic  times  there  have  been 
periods  of  overflow  from  the  Nordic  populations   to  the 
South.       This  is  traced  in  Germany  in  the  Row  Graves 
(Reihengraber)  where  the  Nordic  longheads  are  found  buried 
side  by  side  with  their  heads  facing  the  rising  sun.     It  is  also 
traced  far  into  France,  where  the  older  races  are  to  be  found 
in  isolated  areas  of  disfavour,  mountainous,  unfertile,  or  other- 
wise undesirable.     Moreover,  it  was  not  by  land  only  that  this 
overflow  took  place.     The  emigrants  went  also  by  sea  to  found 
new  homes  in  distant  parts,  and  have  left  traces  along  the 
coast  of  France  and  around  the  mouths  of  the  Loire.  Notable 
amongst  these  were  the  Veneti  whose  confederation  occupied 
the  country  around  Vannes,  the  capital  of  Morbihan,  on  the 
south  coast  of  Brittany.     Caesar  wrote  that  he  exterminated 
them,  put  the  whole  senate  to  death,  and  sold  the  rest  into 
slavery.     This,  however,  was  not  the  case.     Their  race  charac- 
teristics still  remain  to  prove  that  it  is  easier  to  conquer  than 
to  exterminate.     Morbihan  is  one  of  the ''blondest"  depart- 
ments in  France.     Not  much  further  south  across  the  Bay  of 
Biscay  lay  Brigantium,  near  Corunna,  on  an  island  adjacent  to 
which  was  a  great  light-house  mentioned  by  Orosius,  fabled  in 
aftertime  to   have   been  Breogan's   Tower.     There  was  also 
Brigantium  (Briangon)  in  the  Hautes  Alpes  and  Brigantium 
(Bregenz),  near  Lake  Constance.     And  we  have  seen  that  the 
Brigantes  held  the  country  between  the  Humber  and  the 
Clyde,  and  were  planted  in  the  South-east  of  Ireland.     There 
is,  therefore,  no  inherent  improbability  in  the  statement  in  our 
texts  that  the  first  coming  of  the  Gael  was  from  the  North  of 
Spain.     They  came  as  the  allies,  probably  at  the  invitation,  of 
the   Firvolce  to  aid  them  to  shake  otF   the    yoke   of   the 
Dedananns.    It  was  in  substance  a  rehearsal  of  the  drama 
played  2,000  years  afterwards  by  another  section  of  the  Nordic 
race — the  Jutes,  the  Saxons,  and  the  Angles^ 

E 


50  EARLY   IRISH   HISTORY. 

The  expansion  of  the  Nordic  race  on  the  Continent  was 
slow.  It  proceeded  step  by  step — by  infiltration,  pressure  and 
fighting.  We  do  not  propose  to  give  details  here,  nor  to  open 
up  the  Celtic  question  which  is  enshrined  in  a  voluminous 
literature.  We  shall  confine  ourselves  to  stating  that  the  Celts 
were  a  powerful,  valiant,  and  imperial  race,  and  during  the  ' 
Hallstadt  period  stood  in  the  forefront  of  civilisation  and 
progress.  Now  Hallstadt  was  a  great  Celtic  capital  and  em- 
porium of  trade  in  Upper  Austria.  In  the  tombs,  over  1,000 
in  number,  were  found  the  most  beautiful  specimens  of  the 
industrial  art  of  the  period.  This  civilisation  is  characterised 
by  the  presence  of  iron  employed  largely  in  the  manufacture 
of  weapons.  Bronze,  however,  was  still  predominant  at  first, 
and  was  gradually  superseded  by  iron.  Vases  in  bronze  of  a 
beautiful  type,  brooches,  necklets,  bracelets,  and  trinkets  in 
gold  abound.  Ivory  from  Africa  was  used  for  the  pommels  of 
swords ;  glass  was  used  to  make  small  vases.  A  large  trade 
was  done  in  amber  from  the  Baltic  for  which  the  rich 
products  of  the  Mediterranean  cities  were  given  in  exchange. 
There  was  no  silver  or  coined  money  found  in  the  tombs. 

Montelius,  according  to  his  latest  views,  places  the  age  of 
bronze  in  France  and  other  Celtic  nations  between  2,000  and 
850  B.C.,  and  the  Hallstadt  period  between  850  and  600  B.C.^ 

The  advance  of  the  Celts  was  triumphant.  It  is  written  in 
history,  and  cannot  be  reasonably  doubted  that  they  seized 
Galatia ;  spared  Delphi ;  held  Rome  to  ransom,  and  took 
possession  of  the  fairest  regions  of  Europe— the  valleys  of  the 
Po,  the  Danube,  the  Loire,  the  Marne,  and  the  Seine.  They 
stopped  at  the  Channel.  The  charms  of  Britain  could  not 
entice  them  to  cross  the  narrow  strait,  and  Erin  had  little  to 
attract  and  much  to  terrify  a  people  who,  unlike  the  Nordic 
race,  had  never  faced  the  perils  of  the  sea,  except  whilst  they 
were  crossing  the  Crimean  Bosphorus.  The  immigration  of 
the  Firvolce  from  the  South  was,  as  we  have  seen,  by  relays 
under  various  sub-denominations,  The  Nordic  immigration 
was  also  gradual  by  relays  of  immigrants  of  the  same  stock. 
If  we  go  forward  1000  years  to  the  time  of  Cimbaeth — from 
1700  to  750  B.C.— how  do  we  find  the  Eponymi  placed  on  the 
land  ?    The  clan  of  Lugaid,  the  son  of  Ith,  who  was  the  first 

*  L'anthopologie,  xii.,  620. 


THE   GAEL.  51 

leader  of  the  immigration  to  land  in  Erin,  was  located  on  the 
verge  of  the  Southern  Ocean,  in  Corca  Luighe,  a  small 
territory  lying  between  Kinsale  and  Bantry  Bay.  North  of 
this  lay  the  territory  of  the  clan  of  Eber  the  Fair,  the  elder 
brother  of  Eremon.  Next  came  Eremon.  And  finally,  in  the 
north-east,  we  find  a  nephew — Heber,  the  son  of  Ir.  Leinster 
was  occupied  by  the  Gailleoin,  a  tribe  of  the  Firvolce. 
Connacht  was  also  occupied  by  other  sub-denominations  of 
Firvolce,  notably  by  Firdomhnann  and  the  Cathraige.  Our 
texts  contain  no  record  of  any  struggle  in  which  the  clan  of 
Ith  was  driven  into  an  area  of  isolation  and  disfavour  by  a 
body  of  immigrants  advancing  from  the  North,  as  the 
O'Sullivans  in  after  times  were  driven  from  the  Golden  Vein 
of  Tipperary  into  the  same  region.  The  fate  of  the  clan  ol 
Eber  the  Fair  was  decided  at  the  battle  of  Geashill,  near  the 
Esker  Riada,  in  the  King's  County.  This  is  a  long  ridge  of 
gravel  hills,  probably  the  moraine  of  a  confluent  glacier, 
which  stretches  from  Dublin  to  Clarin  Bridge,  on  Galway  Bay, 
and  is  referred  to  frequently  in  our  texts,  as  the  dividing  line 
between  North  and  South,  Conn's  Half  (ieAt  Cuinn),  and 
Eogan's  Half  (te At  rhoj^).  From  this  time  the  clan  of  Ir  and 
the  clan  of  Eremon  stand  face  to  face  in  fierce  antagonism, 
fighting  for  the  hegemony.  The  struggle  lasted  for  800  years, 
and  ended  in  332  A.D.,  with  the  victory  of  the  three  Collas 
and  the  destruction  of  Emania,  leaving  the  clan  of  Eremon 
not,  indeed,  absolute  masters,  but  unquestionably  the 
predominant  power  in  Erin,  and  destined,  apparently,  in  due 
process  of  social  and  political  evolution  to  fuse  into  a  nation 
the  various  ethnic  elements  under  their  sway,  who  now  spoke 
the  same  language,  shared  in  the  same  superstitions,  and  were 
known  by  a  common  name— the  Gael. 

Before  presenting  our  readers  with  some  figures  relating  to 
the  period  between  1700  and  750  B.C.,  we  may  state  that  we 
follow  the  chronology  and  figures  found  in  the  "  Annals  of  the 
Kingdom  of  Erin  "  by  the  Four  Masters,  which  were  written 
between  January,  1632,  and  August,  1636.  These  Annals  are 
sometimes  referred  to  as  a  compilation  which  at  the  present 
day  is  generally  understood  to  mean  "scissors  and  paste  " 
work.  Their  task,  however,  was  of  a  different  character. 
"  Eminent  masters  in  antiquarian  lore,"  as  Colgan  describes 


52  EARLY   IRISH   HISTORY, 

tliem,  they  collected,  as  best  they  could,  all  the  texts  that 
could  be  procured  in  their  time.     They  then  examined  them, 
compared  them,  criticised  them,  weighed  the  evidence,  and 
delivered  their  judgments  in  the  most  valuable  work  which 
has    come    down  to  us  in  the    Gaelic    tongue.     The    Four 
Masters,  following  the  Septuagint,  present,  on  the  whole,  a 
more  coherent  and  intelligible  view  than  the  annalists  who 
adopt  other  systems.      The  distribution  of  time — the  dates 
assigned  to   particular  events — is  largely  regulated  by    the 
system  of  chronology  adopted,  and  nothing  but  confusion  can 
arise    if  the  historian  passes  from  one   system   to   another. 
Moreover,  we  do  not  present  the  dates  we  now  offer  as  reliable, 
and  it  is  only  by  a  very  liberal  construction  of  the  terms  that 
the  dates  B.C.  may,  perhaps,  be  called  rough  approximations. 
The  struggle  between  the  tribes  of  Eremon,  Eber  the  Fair, 
and  Heber,  the  son  of  Ir,  was  long  and  obstinately  fought. 
Though  the  race  of  Eber  the  Fair  lost  the  battle  of  Geashill, 
they  continued  strong  and  powerful.      According  to  the  Four 
Masters,  53  kings  reigned  at  Tara,  counting  joint  reigns  as 
one,  from  the  coming  of  the  Gael  (1700  B.C.),  to  the  alternate 
reigns  of  Aed  Ruad,  Dithorba,  and  Cimbaeth  (730  B.C.),  a 
period  of  970  years.    This  period  is  distributable  approximately 
as  follows  : — 

PERIOD  I. 

1700  B.C.   TO  970  B.C. 


Kings. 

Line  of. 

Years  of  Reiga. 

17 

Eremon 

438* 

21 

Eber  the  Fair 

236 

13 

Ir 

267 

2 

Ith 

6 

(Interregmim  of  7  years 

and 

broken   years) 

23 

Total,   53  —  Total,  970 

We  add,  for  comparison,  Periods  II,  and  III. 

PERIOD  II. 

From   the    accession  of  Aed   Ruad  (730   B.C.)   to   A.D.  1,  there 
were  37  High-Kings. 

*In  this  figure  is  reckoned  the  reign  of  Siorna  Saoglach    (the  long-lived)  for 
150  }  ears.     Suggestions  to  account  lor  this  need  not  detain  us  here. 


THE   GAEL.  53 

Kin^s.                                  Line  of.  Years  of  Reign. 

23                                 Eremon  459 

8                          Eber  the  Fair  82 

5  &  Macha  (Queen)       Ir  189 

0                                 Ith  0 

Total,    35  Total,  730 

PERIOD    III. 

From  A.D.  1,  to  the  coming  of  St.  Patrick  (432)  there   were   27 


nigh-Kings. 

Kings. 
20 
1 
3 
2 
i 

Line  of. 
Eremon 
Eber  the  Fair 
Ir 

Ith 
Cairbre  Cinnceat 

Years  of  Reign. 

248 

J3 

25 

31 

5 

Total,   27 

PERIOD    lY. 

Total; 

322 

From  St.  Patrick  to  Brian  Boru  (1002,  A.D.)  all  were  of  the  line 
of  Eremon,  with  one  or  possibly  two  exceptions. 

The  "  Annals  of  the  Four  Masters  "  during  our  first  and 
second  periods,  are  in  the  main  confined  to  giving  the  name  of 
each  of  the  High  Kings,  the  date  of  his  accession,  the  length 
of  his  reign,  and  the  manner  of  his  death.  A  list  containing 
the  name,  line  and  date  of  accession  of  each  Ardrigh  will 
be  found  in  the  Appendix.  The  bursting  out  of  lakes,  and 
the  cutting  down  of  woods,  are  also  noticed  in  great  detail. 
So  also  the  innumerable  battles  which  recur  with  the  periodi- 
city of  astronomical  events.  More  interesting  events  are  also 
but  very  rarely  noticed  at  some  length.  We  shall  give  a  feAV 
examples  generally,  in  the  words  of  the  authors  as  translated 
by  O'Donovan  in  his  invaluable  work,  slightly  abridged : 

A.M.  3502  (1698,  B.C.),  Tea,  the  daughter  of  Lugaid,  the  son  of 
Ith,  whom  Eremon  brought  home  {i.e.,  married)  in  Spain  over  the 
head  of  Odba,  requested  of  Eremon  as  her  bride  gift  (cmrciM)  a 
choice  hill  as  she  might  select  to  be  buried  there.  She  selected 
Drum-Caoin,  and  from  her  it  was  called  Tara.2 

2  This  is  one  of  the  nsual  etymologies.  It  is  more  likely,  we  think,  that  it 
was  called  •Oiiuitn  C15  inoiri  after  the  King's  "  great  house  "  was  built.  After 
a  time  th^se  words  would  be  treated  as  one  word,  CemAiti,  and  the  last 
syllable  shoitened  and  elided  with  the  genitive  Cervi(Ai)tiAc. 


64«  EARLY   lEISH   HISTORY. 

There  were  other  Taras  in  Erin,  all,  we  believe,  residential, 
and  occupied  by  chieftains.  The  houses  were,  no  doubt,  built 
in  imitation  of  the  King's  "great  house," — like  Bricrin's 
Mansion  in  Dun  Rudraighe,  near  Lough-Brickland,  in  Down. 
"  It  must  be  remembered,"  writes  Joyce,  "  that  a  Teamhair 
was  a  residence,  and  that  all  the  Teamhairs  had  originally 
one  or  more  forts,  which,  in  case  of  many  of  them,  remain  to 
this  day."  3 

A.M.  3580  (1620  B.C.)  This  was  the  seventeenth  year  above  three 
score,  of  Tighernmas,  as  King  over  Erin.  It  was  by  him  the  following 
battles  were  gained  over  the  race  of  Eber — the  battle  of  Ele  (Antrim), 
the  battle  of  Loclnnagh,  the  battle  of  Cuilard,  in  Magh  Innis  (Down) ; 
the  battle  of  Cuil  Fraechen,  the  battle  of  Magh  Fecht,  the  battle  of 
Commar,  the  battle  of  Cul-athguirt,  in  Seimhne,  (Island  Magee)  ;  the 
battle  of  Ard  Neadh  (Connacht)  ;  the  battle  of  Carn  Feradagh 
(Limerick)  ;  the  battle  of  Cnamh  Choill  (Connacht)  ;  the  battle  of 
Ouil  Feadha,  the  battle  of  Eeabh,  the  battle  of  Congnaidhe,  in  Tuath 
Eabha  (Sligo)  ;  the  battle  of  Cluan  Cuaa  in  Teatlibha  (Teffia)  ;  the 
battle  ot  Cluan  Muirsge  (Breffny)  ;  the  two  battles  of  Cuil,  in  Arget 
Boss  (Kilkenny)  ;  the  battle  of  Ele,  the  battle  of  Berra  (Cork)  ;  seven 
battles  at  Lough  Lughdhach  (Lough  Carrane,  Kerry)  ;  two  other 
battles  at  Arget  Ross  (Kilkenny)  ;  three  battles  against  the  Firvolce 
and  the  battle  of  Cuil  Fobhair,  against  the  Ernai  (in  Tyrone). 

We  give  the  foregoing  details,  not  to  enumerate  the  vic- 
tories of  Tighernmas,  but  as  a  specimen  of  the  class  of  entries 
in  the  Annals  which  are  very  numerous,  to  show  the  tradition 
as  to  the  social  state  of  Erin  in  those  days.  We  have  no  clue 
to  the  casus  belli  in  any  case  or  to  the  results  which  folio Aved 
from  these  victories.  If  it  be  founded  on  fact,  the  record 
reveals  to  us  the  picture  of  a  very  active  monarch,  continually 
at  war,  striking  blows  with  effect,  north,  south,  east,  and  west, 
which,  however,  bore  no  permanent  results. 

The  conclusion  of  this  entry  is  more  interesting. 

"  It  was  by  Tighernmas  that  gold  was  first  smelted  in  Erin,  in 
Foithre  Airthir  Lilie  (east  of  the  Litley).  It  was  by  an  artiilcer  of  the 
Fera-Cualann  (Wickiow).  It  was  by  Tighernmas  that  goblet.s  and 
brooches  were  first  covered  with  gold  and  silver  in  Erin.  It  was  by 
him  that  clothes  were  dyed  purple,  blue,  and  green.  It  was  in  his 
rei"n  that  the  three  black  rivers  of  Erin  burst  forth.  At  the  end  of 
this  year  he  died,  with  three  quarters  of  the  men  of  Erin  about  him,  at 
the  meeting  of  Magh  Slecht,  in  Breifne,  at  the  worshipping  of  Crom 
Cruach,  which  was  the  chief  idol  of  adoration  in  Ei'in.  This  happened 
on  the  eve  of  Samliain  (Hallow  Eve)  precisely.  It  was  from  the 
genuflections  that  the  men  of  Erin  made  about  Tighernmas  that  the 
plain  was  named." 

^Joyce's  Irish  Plaice  Names,  First  Series,  2S3. 


THE   GAEL.  55 

The  statement  in  the  ilnnals  is,  probably,  taken  from  the 
versified  Dindshenchus,  of  Magh  Slecht,  in  the  Book  of  Leinster, 
of  which  "we  give  a  few  staves,  translated  by  Kuno  Meyer  as 
follows : — 

There  came 

Tighernmas,  the  Princa  of  Tara,  yonder 

On  Hallowe'en  with  many  hosts 

A  cause  of  grief  to  them  was  the  deed. 

They  did  evil  ; 

They  beat  tlieir  palms  ;  they  pounded  their  bodies, 

"Wailing  to  the  demon  who  enslaved  them. 

They  shed  falling  showers  of  tears 

Around  Crom  Cruach  ; 

There  the  hosts  would  prostrate  themselves, 

Though  he  put  them  under  deadly  disgi'ace, 

Their  name  clings  to  the  noble  plain, 

Except  one-fourth  of  the  keen  Gaels 

Not  a  man  alive     .     .     . 

Escaped  without  death  in  his  mouth. 

The  prose  Dindshenchus  being  more  modern  than  the  verse, 
has,  as  usual,  further  particulars.  We  quote  from  Stokes' 
translation  in  the  Revue  Celtique  of  the  Rennes  text : 

"And  they  all  prostrated  before  him  (i.e.,  Crom  Chroic),  so 
that  the  tops  of  their  foreheads  and  the  gristle  of  their  noses 
and  the  caps  ol  their  knees  and  the  ends  of  their  elbows  broke, 
and   three-quarters  of  the  men  of  Erin    perished    at    these 
prostrations.      Whence  Magslecht,  '  Plain  of  Prostration.' "  * 
It  is  more  likely,  we  think,  that  the  plain  was  named  from  the 
C<sim   f  leciic  or  plague  stroke.     Slecht,^  in  the  sense  of  genu- 
flection, or  prostration,  is  connected,  probably,  with  "  fiecto," 
and  is  post-Christian.     Its  older  sense  was  to  cut  down,  and 
the  cutting  off  of  a  large  part  of  the  population  was  more 
likely  to  give  a  name  to  the  plain  than  the  supposed  genuflec- 
tions or  prostrations.     There  is  no  mention  of  child  sacrifice  in 
either  the  versified  or  prose  Dindshenchus  on  this  occasion. 
But  we  may  feel  sure  that  Tighernmas  and  the  men  of  Erin, 
if  they  approached  Crom  Cruach  as  suppliants  for  help,  brought 
with  them  as  the  usage  was,  gifts  more  appetising  and  accept- 
able than  prostrations,  tears,  and  genuflections. 

The  nucleus  of  this  legend  must  be  sought  in  the  genuine 
tradition  that  the  African  Fomorians  exacted,  as  we  have 

*  Revue  Celtique,  xvi.,  53.  'Stijim — Windisch  Worierbnch. 


56  EARLY   IRISH  HISTORY. 

already  stated,  a  tribute  of  children  from  the  Firvolce,  to  be 
delivered  every  Hallowe'en  between  the  rivers  Drobhaois  and 
Erne.     This  tithe  or  fixed  proportion  of  all  kinds  of  produce 
was  a  Phoenician  usage,  and  was  paid  annually  by  Carthage  to 
the  mother  city  in  Asia,  and  there  can  be  very  little  doubt 
that  some  of  these  little  children  were  sacrificed  to  Melkarth 
accordins:  to  the  Carthajfinian  ritual.     The  district  of  Masrh 
Siecht  was  not  occupied  by  the  Gael.     The  Four  Masters  state 
expressly  that  it  was  in  the  possession  of  the  "  Sen  Tuatha  " — ■ 
the    old    tribes — who    may    have    been    a   colony   of  these 
Fomorians  dwelling  in  an  area  of  isolation.     It  was  by  them 
the  Masraidhe   that  Conall   Gulban  was  killed  in  A.D.  464. 
Moreover,  this  statement  of  the  prostration  of  the  men  of  Erin 
around  Tighernmas  may  well  be  doubted.     Giolla  Coeman, 
+  1070,  in  "  Erin  Ard,"  refers  to  the  death  of  Tighernmas  and 
a  slaughter  of  thousands  by  the  plague,  and  says  nothing 
about  Magh  Slecht  or  Crom  Cruach,  and  Cormac  MacCuiienain 
(  +  908)  says  nothing  about  it  where  we  should  expect  to  find 
a  reference  to  it.     We  find  the  following  in  the  glossary  : — 
"  Teamleuchta,  i.e.,  Tamshleacta,  i.e.,  a  plague  that  cut  otf  the 
people  in  that  place,  i.e.,  in  a  great  mortality,  during   which 
the  people  used  to  go  into  the  plains  that  they  might  be  in 
one  place  before  death,  because  of  their  burial  by  those  whom 
the  mortality  did  not  carry  off;  and  Teamleachta  (plague- 
grave)  nencupatur."    The  story  in  the  Book  of  Leinster  is, 
we  think,  a  subsequent  addition,  afterwards,  as  is  usually  the 
case,  equipped  with  copious  and  minute  details  in  the  prose 
Dindshenchus.     If,  however,  we  were  to  admit  the  truth  of 
the  story  told  about  the  prostration  of  Tighernmas,  there  is 
no  reason  for  holding  that  Crom  Cruach  became  the  chief  idol 
of  Erin.     If  he  became  the  national  god  he  would  not  have 
been  called  persistently  Crom  Cruach  (Bloody  Crom),  and  he 
would  have  been  installed,  with  a  well-endowed  priesthood, 
at  Tara,  and  Tlachtga,  Tailtin  and  Usnach.     This  was  not  so. 
The  god  elements  proved  decisively  by  the  terrible  mortality 
that  they  were  mightier  than  Crom,  that  their  power  was 
greater,  their  protection  more  valuable,  and,  above  all,  that 
their  anger  was  more  to  be  feared. 

A.M.  3664.     This  was  the  first  year  of  Eocaid  Edghadhach  as  kina 
over  Erin.     He  was  called  Eocaid  Edghadhach  beciuise  it  was  by  hin 


THE   GAEL.  57 

that  variety  of  colour  was  first  put  on  clothes  in  Erin  to  distinguish  the 
honour  of  each  by  his  raiment,  from  the  lowes4;  to  the  highest.  Thus 
was  the  distinction  made  between  them — one  colour  in  the  clothes  of 
slaves,  two  in  the  clothes  of  soldiers,  three  in  the  clothes  of  goodly 
heroes  or  young  lords  of  territories  (lords'  sons  ?),  [four  in  the  clothes 
of  hospital] ei's,  five  in  the  clothes  of  lords]  of  territories,  six  in  the 
clothes  of  ollavs,  seven  in  the  clothes  of  kings  and  queens.^ 

A,M.  3922.  OUamh  Fodhla  (OUav  Fola).  Eocaid  was  his  firsf, 
name,  and  he  was  called  Ollamh  Fodhla  because  he  was  first  a.  learned 
Ollamb,  and  afterwards  King  of  Fodhla,  i.e.,  Erin. 


Gilla  Caomain  calls  him  "  King  of  the  Learned "  in 
"  Yellow-haired  "  Erin.  The  Annals  of  Clonmacnoise,  which 
have  reached  us  only  in  Mageoghan's  trasnlation,  state  : — 

He  was  the  first  king  of  the  land  that  ever  kept  the  great  feast  at 
Tara,  called  Feis  Tarach,  which  feast  was  kept  once  a  year,  whereunto 
all  the  king's  friends  and  dutiful  subjects  came  yearly,  and  such  as 
came  not  were  taken  for  the  king's  enemies  and  to  be  prosecuted  by 
the  law  and  the  sword  as  undutiful  to  the  State.  This  king  was  so 
well  learned  and  so  much  given  to  the  favour  of  learning  that  he 
builded  a  fair  palace  at  Tai-a  only  for  the  learned  sort  of  the  realm  to 
dwell  in,  at  his  own  peculiar  cost  and  charges,  of  whom  he  was  so  much 
again  beloved  and  reverenced  that  ever  after  his  house,  stock,  and 
family  were  by  them  in  their  rhymes  and  })oems  preferred  before  any 
others  of  their  equals  of  the  Irish  nation.  Six  of  his  children  succeeded 
him,  one  after  another,  as  kings  of  this  land,  without  any  other  coming 
betwixt  them,  which  good  never  happened  to  no  other  before  him.  He 
died  at  Tara  a  famous  king— rich,  learned,  wise,  and  generally  well- 
beloved  of  all  men,  and  reigned  forty  years.'' 

Ollamh  Fodhla  was  of  the  line  of  Ir,  and  he  was  succeeded, 
as  stated,  by  six  of  that  race  in  succession. 

A.M.  4020,  B.C.  1180.  This  was  the  first  year  of  Sirna,  son  of 
Dian.  It  was  he  wrested  the  government  of  Tara  from  the  Ulta,  i.e., 
the  race  of  Ir.  An  attack  was  made  by  him  on  the  Fomorians  in  the 
territory  of  Meath.  It  was  by  him,  moreover,  was  fought  the  battle  of 
!Moin  Troghaidhe,  in  Ciannachta  (in  Meath  1).  When  Lugair,  the  son 
of  Lugaida,  of  the  race  of  Eber,  brought  in  a  force  of  Fomorians  into 
Erin  with  their  king,  Ceasarn  by  name,  Sirna  drew  the  men  of  Erin  to 
make  battle  against  them  at  Moin  Troghaidhe.  As  they  were  fighting 
a  plague  was  sent  upon  them,  of  which  Lugair  and  Ceasarn  perished, 
with  their  peonle,  and  a  countless  number  of  the  men  of  Erin  with 
them.     Sirna  Saoghlach  (the  long-lived)  reigned  150  years. 

^  The  law  was  known  as  the  "  Ill-brccta."  It  will  be  observed  that  there 
is  no  mention  herp  of  Druids  or  paeiau  priests.  The  words  in  brackets  are  from 
the  Gaelic  text.  They  are  omitted  by  inadvertence  from  O'Donovans  translalioa. 

'  Murphy,  S.J.,  Ann.  Clon.  (Mageoghaa)  34. 


58  EARLY   HUSH   HISTORY. 

This  patriarclial  figure  is,  probably,  an  effort  of  clironology, 
to  bring  tlie  system  of  the  Four  Masters  into  harmony  with 
the  Domestic  Annals  from  which  the  lists  of  the  High-Kings 
were  taken.  Gilla  Caomain,  who  followed  the  Hebrew  reckon- 
ing, says  : — "  Sirna  held  the  reigns  of  power  for  thrice  seven 
noble  years." 

A  study  of  the  figures  given  above  in  our  first  and  second 
periods  will  reveal  the  steady  progress  of  the  line  of  Eremon. 
At  the  commencement  of  the  second  period  the  race  of  Eber 
was  beaten.     The  contest  thenceforth  lay  between  the  Irians 
(Clanna  Rury)  and  the  Eremonians.     Emhain  (Emania)  was 
the  capital  of  the  Irians.     It  is  now  known  as  Navan  Fort,  and 
is  situated  about  two  miles  west  of  Armagh.     The  area  of  it 
was  about  twelve  acres.     It  was  elliptical  in  shape,  and  sur- 
rounded by  a  fosse  twenty  or   thirty  feet  deep,  and  a  high 
embankment.  Within  this  space  is  an  elevated  spot,  somewhat 
removed  from  the  centre,  on  which  the  central  dun,  a  dun 
within  a  dun,  is  supposed  to  have  stood.     The  foundation  of 
Emania  is  assigned  by  the  Four  Masters  to  Macha  of  the  Red- 
hair  during  the  period  between  660  and  653  B.C.  Tighernach, 
who  followed  the  Hebrew  reckoning,  assigned  it  to  the  year 
307  B.C.     M.  D'Arbois  visited  the  place  in  1881,  and  has  given 
an  admirable  description  and  plan  of  it  in  the  Revue  Geltique 
(xiv.,  p.  1).     Ho  observes  that  "  Some  persons  will  think  the 
dimensions  of  Navan  Fort  modest,  but  the  great  banquetting 
hall,  called  the  '  Craobh  Ruadh  '  appears  to  have  been  situated 
outside  the  fortress.     The  name  is  preserved  in  the  townland 
of  Creeve  Roe,  and  on  an  adjoining  farm  is  a  moat  known  as 
the  King's  Stables."  Emania  continued  to  be  the  house  of  the 
Kings  of  Ulster  for  1,000  years,   until  A.D.  832,  when  it  was 
razed  to  the  ground  by  the  three  Collas.^ 

We  may  pause  here  to  refer  to  an  oft-quoted  entry  in  the 
Annals  of  Tighernach,  who  was  Abbot  of  Clonmacnoise,  and 
died  A.D.  1088.  He  is  usually  referred  to  as  the  most  reliable 
of  our  chroniclers,  a  reputation  to  which  his  title  as  regards 
pre-Christian  times  is  very  questionable,  and  which  he  owes 
in  a  large  degree  to  the  meaning  that  has  been  attached  to  an 
entry  in  his  Annals,  which  is  as  follows  : — 

*  The  Annals  of  Clonmacnoise,  Murphy,  S.J.,  p.  41,  assiVn  the  foundation 
to  450  B.C.,  and  state  that  the  Kings  of  Ulster  had  their  palace  there  for  855 
years  thereafter. 


THE   GAEL.  59 

In  the  18th  year  of  Ptolemy  (i.e.,  B.C.,  307)  commenced  to  reign  in 
Emania,  Cimbaid,  the  son  of  Fiutan,  who  reigned  28  years.  At  that 
time  Echu  the  Victorious,  the  father  of  Ugaine,  is  said  by  others  to 
have  reigned  in  Tara,  although  we  have  written  before,  that  Ugaine 
reigned  [then].  All  the  monwnenta,  i.e.,  records  of  the  Scoti  were 
"  inoerta  "  before  Cimbaith.® 

The  meaning  usually  attached  to  incerta  here  is  "  uncer- 
tain," "  unreliable."    O'Donovan  says  : — 

We  may  safely  infer  from  the  words  of  Tighernach  that  the  ancient 
historical  docviments  (mormmenta)  existing  in  his  time  were  all  regarded 
by  him  as  uncertain  before  the  time  of  Cimbaith,  whose  reign  he  fixes 
to  the  year  B.C.  305  (recte  307).  His  significant  words,  "  omnia 
monumenta  Scotorum  usque  Cimbaith  incerta  erant,"  inspire  a  feeling 
of  confidence  in  this  compiler  which  commands  respect  for  those  facts 
he  has  transmitted  to  us,  even  wheii  they  relate  to  the  period  antece- 
dent to  the  Christian  era."^? 

So  Todd  : 

I  believe  the  writer  only  meant  to  say  that  the  historical  records 
relating  to  the  period  before  Cimbaith  are  not  absolutely  to  be  relied 


on." 


So,  too,  Hyde  says  :— 

He  means  that  from  that  time  forwards,  he  at  least  considered  that 
the  substance  of  Irish  history,  as  handed  down  to  us,  might,  to  say  the 
least  of  it,  be  more  or  less  relied  on.^^ 

The  name  of  Echu,  the  father  of  Ugaine,  does  not  appear 
in  any  known  series  of  the  Kings  of  Tara,  or  the  Provincial 
Kings.  We  think  Tighernach  meant  nothing  more  by  incerta 
than  "  unsettled,"  a  meaning  which  the  word  frequently  bears, 
and  which  the  context  indicates  to  be  the  meaning  intended 
here.  Tighernach  was  not  considering  the  credibility  of  early 
Irish  history,  but  simply  the  question  whether  Ugaine  or  his 
father  was  at  the  particular  epoch  (307  B.C.)  the  ruling 
monarch  at  Tara,  or,  perhaps,  to  narrow  the  question  still  more, 
whether  Echu  had  died  before  that  year  or  not.  This  was  the 
chronological  uncertainty  to  which  he  referred.^^    It  was  not 

*  Stokes'  Revue  Celtiqtte,  xiv.,  104. 
10  Four  Masters,  xlv. 
"  O'Cwrry  AfS.,518. 
'2  Lit.  Hist.,  24. 

"  Codex  Palatinus.  To-ld  Lcc  Ter.,  ill.,.  254,  where  a  valuable  and  learned 
study  on  Irish  Chronology  will  be  found. 


60  EARLY   IRISH    HISTORY. 

the  happening  of  the  events  recorded  that  was  uncertain,  but 
the  precise  time  and  sequence  in  which  they  happened.^*  We 
may  be  perfectly  certain  that  Tighernach  believed  with  unques- 
tioning faith  in  Partholan  and  Nemed,  in  Balor  of  the  Blows 
and  Lugh  Lamhfodba,in  the  spells  and  charms  of  wizards, 
and  the  revelations  of  fairy  lovers,  and  in  many  other  soft  and 
fond  amenities  that  live  no  longer  in  the  unfaith  of  reason. 
The  Higher  Criticism  was  not  rocked  in  its  cradle  by  the 
placid  Shannon  in  the  lonely  cloisters  of  Clonmacnoise. 

"  Tighernach  had  no  doubt  before  him,  and  was  referring  to  Eocaid  Ua 
Floinn's  Chronolocrical  Poems,  ia  wliich  the  Kings  of  Einania  are  given  in 
"settled  "  chronological  order  from  Cimbaith  to  Fergus  Fogha,  who  was  over- 
thrown by  the  CoUaa. 


[     61     ] 


CHAPTER  V. 
Deirdre. 

AEDH  RUADH  Dithorba  and  Cimbaetli  were  first  cousins. 
They  made  an  agreement  that  each  of  them  was  to  rule 
seven  years  alternately  in  succession.    Three  times  seven 
sureties  were  pledged  between  them,  seven  wizards  to  revile 
them  for  ever ;  or  seven  poets  to  lampoon  and  satirize  and 
upbraid  them  ;  or  seven  chiefs  to  wound  them  and  burn  them 
unless  each  man  gave  up  his  reign  at  the  end  of  seven  years, 
having  preserved  true  government.     Each  of  them  reigned 
three  times  in  his  turn  during  sixty-six  years.      Aed  the  Red 
was  the  first  of  them  to  die.     He  was  drowned  in  Eas  aedha 
Ruaidh,  and  his  body  was  carried  into  the  Sidh  there,  whence 
were  named  Sidh  Aeda  and  Eas  Ruaidh.     He  left  no  children 
except  one  daughter,  whose  name  was  Macha,  the  Red-haired. 
She   demanded  the  Kingdom  in  due  time,  when  her  turn 
came.  Cimbaeth  and  Dithorba  said  they  would  not  give  King- 
ship to  a  woman.    A  battle  was  fought  between  them.    Macha 
routed  them.^    Her  claim  was  probably  well  founded.    Tacitus 
tells  us  of  Boudicea  that  the  Iceni  chose  her  as  their  generalis- 
simo.    "  With  Boudicea  as  leader,  for   the  Iceni  make    no 
distinction  between  the  sexes  in  their  rulers,  all  took  up  arms.^ 
Macha  was  sovereign  for  seven  years.  Meanwhile  Dithorba 
had  fallen.     He  left  five  sons,  who  demanded  the  Kingship 
when  Macha's  term  was  ended.     Macha  said  she  would  not 
give  it  to  them,  "  for  not  by  favour  did  I  obtain  it,"  said  she, 
"but    by  force  on  the  battlefield."      A    battle   was    fought 
between  them.    Macha  routed  the  sons  of  Dithorba,  who  "  left 
a  slaughter  of  heads  "  before  her,  and  went  into  exile  into  the 
wilds  of  Connacht.  Macha  then  took  Cimbaeth  as  her  husband 
and  leader  of  her  troops.     She  pursued  the  sons  of  Dithorba  to 
Connacht,  made  prisoners  of  them,  and  brought  them  all  in 

*  From  "  The  Wooing  of  Emer,"  Kuno  Meyer.    Archeol.  Rev.  I.,  151. 

2  Boudicea  generis  regii  femina  duce  (Neque  enim  sexum  in  imperils  descer- 
nunt),  sumpsere  universi  belium.  Agricola.  C.  16.  Tliere  was  also  a  queen  of 
the  Brigautes,  Cartismandua. 


62  EARLY   IRISH   HISTORY. 

one  chain  to  Ulster.  The  men  of  Ulster  wanted  to  kill  them. 
"  No,"  said  she,  "  for  that  would  be  the  ruin  of  my  true  govern- 
ment. But  they  shall  be  thralls,  and  shall  dig  a  rath  round 
me,  and  that  shall  be  the  eternal  seat  of  Ulster  for  ever ! " 
Then  she  marked  out  the  dun  for  them  with  her  brooch,  viz., 
the  golden  pin  on  her  neck ;  i.e.,  ItnmA  muin  TTIxicliA :  a  brooch 
on  the  neck  of  Macha ;  hence  the  name  Emain  Macha.  Such 
is  the  legend. 

Macha  was  slain  by  Reachtaidh  Righdhearg  (of  the  red 
forearm),  of  the  line  of  Eber,  who,  after  a  reign  of  two  years, 
was  slain  by  Ugaine  Mor,  of  the  line  of  Eremon,  in  revenge 
for  his  foster  mother,  Macha  Mongruadh.  Ugaine  was  the 
son  of  Eocaid  Buadach  (the  victorious),  and  is  represented 
by  our  texts  to  have  had  25  children,  23  sons  and  two 
daughters,  amongst  whom  he  divided  Erin  into  25  shares. 
This  arrangement  lasted  for  three  hundred  years  to  the  time 
of  Eocaid  Feidleach,  the  father  of  Meve.  It  is  also  stated  that 
he  extended  his  empire  to  the  Toirrian,  i.e.,  the  Mediterranean 
Sea.  The  last  of  these  statements  is  certainly  not  true,  and 
the  first  must  refer  to  some  apportionment  of  food  rents  and 
dues  from  local  chieftains,  if  it  has  any  foundation  in  fact. 

The  political  divisions  of  Erin  have  been  various  according 
to  the  will  of  the  monarchs.  However,  they  never  totally 
abrogated  the  five-fold  division.  During  the  time  of  the  Gael 
there  were  five  partitions — (1)  between  Eremon  and  Eber, 
(2)  between  Cearnma  and  Sobhairee,  (3)  by  Ugaine  Mor  into 
25  districts,  (4)  the  re-establishment  of  the  fifths  by  Eocaid 
Feidleach,  (5)  between  Conn  of  the  Hundred  Battles,  and 
Eogan  Mor,  King  of  Munster. 

Of  the  children  of  Ugaine  only  two  left  issue  surviving — 
Laegaire  Lore  and  Cobhthac  Gael  Breagh.  From  these  are 
descended,  according  to  O'Donovan,  all  that  survive  of  the 
race  of  Eremon,  the  families  of  Leinster,  from  Laegaire  Lore, 
the  families  of  Ulster  and  Connacht,  from  Cobhthac  Gael 
Breagh.  This  Ugaine  was  he  who  exacted  oaths  by  all  the 
elements  visible  and  invisible,  from  the  men  of  Erin  in  general, 
that  they  would  never  contend  for  the  sovereignty  of  Erin, 
with  his  children  or  his  race.  After  a  reign  of  forty  years  he 
was  slain  by  his  half-brother,  Badhbhchadh,  who  was  slain  a 
day  and-a-half  after  by  Laogaire  Lore.     Laogaire  Lore,  after  a 


DEIRDRE.  63 

reign  of  two  years,  fell  by  Cobhthach  Gael  Breagh,  at  Carman, 
(Wexford),  and  Cobhthach,  after  a  reign  of  three  years,  fell 
by  Labhraidh  the  mariner,  great  grandson  of  Ugaine,  at  Dinn 
Righ  on  the  Barrow  with  thirty  kings  about  him.  A  large 
body  of  Saga,  much  of  which  is  now  lost,  was  collected  about 
Ugaine,  and  his  sons  and  great  grandsons.^ 

In  288  B.C.,  Rury  the  Great,  of  the  line  of  Ir,  became  High 
King.  He  was 'ninth  in  descent  from  Ollamh  Fodhla,  and  hav- 
ing reigned  for  seventy  years,  died  at  Airgeat-gleann  in 
Monaghan  (218  B.C.).  His  descendants  were  known  as  the 
Clanna  Rury.  His  son,  Breasal,  reigned  for  eleven  years 
(209-198)  ;  his  son,  Congal  Claroineach,  reigned  fifteen  years 
(183-168)';  his  grandson,  Fachtna  Fathac,  reigned  sixteen 
years  (158-142  B.C.).  His  great  grandson,  Concobar,  the  son 
of  Fachtna,  ruled  in  Emania  for  sixty  years,  according  to 
Tighernach,  but  did  not  attain  to  the  High  Kingship,  Con- 
cobar's  mother  was  Ness  or  Nessa,  a  daughter  of  Eocaid 
Salbuide  (of  the  yellow  heel)  of  Connact.  From  the  year 
142  B.C.  to  332  A.D.  the  Clanna  Rudhraidhe  gave  only  three 
kings  to  Tara,  who  ruled  altogether  only  twenty-five  years. 
Fachtna  Fathac  (the  wise)  was  overthrown  by  Eocaidh  Feid- 
leach,  sixth  in  descent  from  Labhraid  Lore  of  the  line  of 
Eremon.  Fergus,  the  son  of  Leide,  then  became  King  of 
Ulster,  and  on  his  death,  Fergus  Mac  Roigh  (Roy)  the  son  of 
Fachtna,  uncle  to  Concobar,  became  King  in  his  stead.  Fergus 
then  married  Nessa,  the  widow  of  his  brother,  Fachtna,  and 
was,  our  texts  say,  by  her  contrivance,  displaced  in  favour  of 
Concobar,  her  son  by  Fachtna,  for  whom  possibly  he  may  have 
been  ruling  merely  as  quasi-iegent,  Eocaidh  Feidleach  ruled 
at  Tara  for  twelve  years,  and  died  there  in  the  year  130  B.C. 
He  had  issue  three  sons  known  as  the  "  Three  Finns,"  and,  as 
some  relate,  six  daughters,  of  whom  Medhbh  (Meve)  was  the 
most  celebrated.  He  abolished  the  arrangement  made  by 
Ugaine  Mor,  which  we  have  mentioned,  and  restored  the 
pentarchy.     Fergus  the  son  of  Leide,  became  King  of  Ulster 

^  All  Leiiister  families  of  the  race  of  Eremon  are  descended  from  Labraidh, 
the  mariner,  with  the  single  exception  of  O'Noian,  which  is  descended  from 
Cobhthach.  The  following  are  the  principal  family  names,  viz. : — O'Connor 
Failghi,  O'Cavanagh,  O'Toohill,  O'Byrne,  MacGilla  Patrick  or  Fitzpatrick, 
O'Dunn,  O'Dimasaigh  or  Dempsoy,  O'Dwycr,  O'Ryan,  and  all  the  septs  that 
trace  their  origin  to  any  of  these  names.  The  chief  part  of  the  Leinster  clana 
are  descended  from  Cathair  Mor. — Keating  O'AIahony,  p.  255. 


64  EARLY   IRISH   HISTORY. 

on  the  death  of  Fachtna.     The  two  Munsters  were  ruled  by 
Deaghaidh,   the  son  of  Sen,   and    his    relative   Tighernach 
Tedhhannach,  and  Leinster  by  Rossa  Riiadh,  the  son  of  Fergus. 
Connact,   he   apportioned,   says   Keating,   into    three    parts, 
between  three  chieftains — Fidach,  Eocaidh  Alat,  and  Tinni, 
all  three  of  the  race  of  the  Firvolce.  Some  time  after  Eocaidh 
went  into  Connact,  and  the  three  Kings  came  to  meet  him. 
He  asked  them  for  a  site  to  build  a  King's  house  *  in  Connact. 
Eocaidh  Alat  and  Fidach  answered  "  that  they  would  give 
him  no  such  site,  but  that  they  would  send  him  his  rent  to 
Tara."     Tinni,  on  the  contrary,  agreed  to  give  a  site.  Eocaidh 
then  gave  his  daughter  Meve  as  wife  to  Tinni,  and  a  King's 
house  was  built  within  the  rath  at  Cruachan,^  in  Roscommon. 
On  the  death  of  Tinni,  who  was  slain  at  Tara  by  Monuder,  also 
calledMacCeact,  Meve  then  ruling  over  all  Connact,  took  to  her 
as  second  husband,  Oilioll,  the  son  of  Ross  Ruadh  of  Leinster. 
Synchronists  tell  us  Meve  was  contemporary  with  Cleopatra, 
and  some  say  she  was  the  original  of  Spenser's  Queen  Mab.     It 
was  whilst  Meve  and  Oilioll  reigned  at  Cruachan,  and  Concobar 
was  King  at  Emania,  that  the  hegemony  passed  decisively 
from  the  line  of  Ir,  and  the  race  Eremon  marched  forward  to 
the  position  which  they  occupied  from  the  time  of  Niall  of  the 
Nine   Hostages  onward.     The  contest  is    the  subject  of  the 
celebrated  Saga  or  epopee  of  the  "  Cows  of  Cuailgne." — U^in 
bo  CuAilnse,  which  we  shall  refer  to  as  the  Tain.     The  osten- 
sible pretext  or  cause  of  this  war  was,  as  usually  happens,  a 
very  insignificant  part  of  the  motives  which  brought  about 
the  invasion  of  Ulster.     The  origin  is  usually  referred  to  the 
murder  of  the  sons  of  Usnach,  to  explain  which  we  must  return 
to  King  Cormac  and  Emania.     We  find  in  our  texts  a  very 
full  and  very  reliable  description  of  the  buildings.     In  the 
King's  house   there  were    three    times  fifty  rooms    and   the 
walls  were  made  of  red  yew,  and  there  were  nine  partitions 
from  the  fire  in  the  centre    of   the  house    to  the    wall,  and 
thirty  feet  the  height  of  each  partition.      The  King's  room 
was    in    the    front    of    the    house,    and   was   large   enough 
for    thirty    warriors.     It   was   ornamented    with    silver    and 
bronze  and  carbuncles  and  precious  stones,  so  that  day  and 

^  King's  house. — This  meant  a  dun  or  fort,  a  place  of  arms  in  their  country. 
*  Rathcroghan,  in  Roacommon,  is  eight  miles  from  Castlerea  station. 


DEIBDRE.  65 

night  were  equally  light  therein.      A  gong  of  silver  hung 
behind  the  King  suspended  from  the  roof-tree,  and  when  he 
struck  it  with  his  silver  wand  with  three  golden  apples  all  the 
men  of  Ulster  were  silent.     All  the  valiant  warriors  found 
space  in  the  King's  house,  and  no  man  pressed  on  another. 
In  it  were  held  great  and  numerous  gatherings  of  every  kind, 
and  wonderful  pastimes,  games,  heroes  performing  their  feats, 
poets  chanting  their  lays,  and  harp  and  timpans  giving  forth 
melodious  strains  to  the  touch  of  skilled  musicians.     These 
warriors  were  the  famous   Red   Branch   Knights.       "  There 
were,"    says    Keating,    "  three    orders    of   champions    then 
co-existent  in  Erin,  and  neither  before  them  nor  since  their 
time  were  there  found  any  of  the  children  of  Golamh,  who 
were  taller,  more  powerful,  hardier,  braver,  or  more  expert  in 
feats  of  valour  and  chivalry  than    they,  for  the   Fianna  of 
Leinster  were  not  to  be  compared  with  them.     The  first  order 
of  these  was  composed  of  the  heroes  and  Knights  of  the  Red 
Branch  under  Concobar.     [Irians  except  Cuchulain.]      The 
second  was  formed  of  the  Gamhanraidhe  (Gowauree)  of  Irrus 
Domnonn,  under  Oilioll  Finn  (Firvolce) ;  and  the  third  was 
composed  of  the  Clanna    Degaidh    or    Ernaeans    in    West 
Munster,  under  Curoi  MacDare  (Eremonians)."    Among  the 
most  celebrated  of  the  Red  Branch  we  may  name  Cuchulain, 
Fergus  MacRoigh  (Roy),  Conall  Cearneach.  Leagaire,  Buadach, 
Celtchar  the  son  of  Uithecair  Dubhtach  Dael  Uladh,  and 
Naoise  (Neeshe),  Ainle,  and  Ardan,  the  three  sons  of  Usnach.^ 
Concobar  had  three  houses — the  Craobh    Ruadh  (Royal  or 
Red  Branch),  Teite  Brec  (Speckled  or  "  Bracced  "  Court)  and 
the  Craobh  Derg  (Crimson  Branch).       In  the  Red  Court  were 
kept  the  spoils  of  the  enemy.     In  the  Royal   Court  sat  the 
Kings.       In  the  Speckled  Court  were  kept  the  spears,  the 
shields,  and  the  swords.     The  reason  they  put  their  arms 
away  from  them  in  one  house  was  that  at  everything  harsh 
they  heard  in  the   banqueting-hall,  if  not  arranged  on  the 
spot,  each  man  arose  against  the  other,  and  hence  their  arms 
were  taken  from  them  into  the    Teite    Brec.     This  is    the 
account  in  the  Book  of  Leinster.'      Keating  makes  a  very 

^  Ferdiad,  described  as  a  pillar  of  the  Gael  in  the  Tain,  was  of  the  Firvolca 
of  Irrus  Domnann  and  Daniel  O'Connell  was  of  the  Degadean  or  Eruean  tribe, 
of  the  line  of  Eremon,  who  had  migrated  from  Ulster  into  Kerry. 

'  O'Curry.  M.C.,"  I.,  333. 


66  EARLY   IRISH   HISTORY. 

necessary  addition — a  fourth  house  for    the    wounded — the 
Broin-bherg,  House  of  Sorrow  (p.  271).^ 

"The  Story  of  Deirdre  and  the  Murder   of   the  Sons 
OF  UsNACH  Down  Here." 

The  most  pathetic  of  the  three  sorrows  of  story-telling 

Once  upon  a  time,  after  Concobar  became  King,  Felimid, 
the  King's  tale-teller,  made  a  feast  at  Emania  for  the  King 
and  many  Knights  of  the  Red  Branch.^    Felimid's  wife  was 
present  attending  to  her  guests  and  enjoying  "the  gentle 
music  of  the  musicians,  the  songs  of  the  bards,  and  the  tales 
of  the  learned,  who  read  the   things   written  on    flags   and 
books."     She  was  then  enceinte,  and  nearing  her  confinement, 
and  it  chanced  as  she  was  retiring,  when  the  revelry  was  at 
its  height,  that  the  unborn  child  shrieked  from  her  womb. 
This  was  an  ominous  event  of  high  import,  portending  either 
good  or  evil  to  the  men  of  Ulad.    Cathbad,  the  King's  wizard, 
who  was  present  at  the  feast,  was  at  once  consulted,  and  went 
out  to  the  borders  of  the  rath  to  observe  and  scrutinize  the 
clouds,  and  the  position  of  the  stars,  and  the  age  of  the  moon. 
On  his  return  he  announced  that  misfortunes  and  woes  would 
come  to  the  men  of  Ulad  on  account  of  the  yellow-haired  girl 
that  had  just  been  born.     The  heroes  of  the  Red  Branch  bade 
him  slay  her  without  delay,   "  Let  it  not  be  so  done,"  said  the 
King,  "  agreeable  is  the  appearance  and  the  laugh  of  the 
infant.     It  were  a  pity  to  quench  her  life.    I  do  not  praise  the 
committing  of  a  base  deed  in  the  hope  of  appeasing  the  anger 

8  When  the  Red  Branch  Knights  came  to  the  Palace  every  summer  to  be 
exercised  in  feats  of  arms  they  were  lodged  in  a  great  house  near  Emain,  called 
the  Craobh  Euadh,  commooly  EngUshed  the  Red  Branch,  from  which  the  whole 
body  took  their  name.  But,  according  to  an  old  glossary,  Ruadh  means  here 
not  "  rod  "  but  "  royal."  But,  the  designation  "  Red  Branch,'  which  is  the 
usual  sense,  is  too  well  established  to  be  displaced.  The  name  of  this  house  is 
also  nreserved,  for  "  Creeveroe  "  is  still  the  name  of  a  townland  near  Navan 
Fort  So  far  as  we  can  judge  from  old  tales,  the  Craobh  Ruadh  appears  to  have 
been  built  of  wood,  with  no  earthen  rampart  around  it,  which  explains  why  the 
present  townland  of  Creeveroe  contains  no  large  fort  hke  that  of  Emain.  Joyce 
Soc.  Hist.  II.,  00. 

9  There  are  many  versions  of  this  famous  tale.  The  more  ancient  are 
brief,  and  were  undoubtedly  intended,  as  Hyde  points  out,  to  be  supplemented 
and  filled  out  by  the  reciter.  We  have  followed  his  version  m  the  Literature, 
which  ia  given  more  completely  in  Zeitscrift  fur  Celt  Philol.  11.,  lib. 


DEIRDRE.  67 

of  the  power  of  the  elements.  I  take  her  under  my  protection 
now,  and  shall  make  her  my  one  wife  and  gentle  Consort.     I 
give  the  men  of  Erin  the  sureties  of  the  sun  and  the  moon, 
that  any  one  destroying  her  now  or  again,  shall  not  live  nor 
last  if  I  survive."     Then  Fergus  MacRoy,  Conall  Cearnach, 
and  the  heroes  rose  up  and  said,  "  King,  right  is  thy  judgment. 
Let  it  be  thy  will  that  is  done."     Cathbad  named  the  child, 
"  Deirdre,"  which  is  taken  to  mean  "  alarm,"  and  until  she  was 
seven  years  old,  she  was  brought  up  with  the  other  children 
of  Emania,  amongst  whom  were  the  three  sons  of  Usnach,  the 
King's  first  cousins.     She  was  then  placed  in  a  dwelling  apart 
with  the  windows  opening  out  at  the  back  on  a  fair  orchard 
and  garden,  with  a  stream  of  pure  water  purling  softly  through 
it.     The  windows  on  the  front  were  closed  up,  and  she  no 
longer  saw  the  grassy  lawn,  and  the  champions'  field,  and  the 
heroes  at  their  feats  of  activity.     Lavercan,  the  gossiper  (ban- 
cainte),  her  tutor,  and  her  nurse  were  the  only  persons  allowed 
to  see  Deirdre.     "  Daughter,"  said  Lavercan,  "  you  have  not 
seen  the  boys  on  the  green  of  Emania  since  you  were  seven 
years  old,  and  that  is  now  seven  years  ago."     "  Seven  bitter 
years,"  said  Deirdre,  "'  since  I  beheld  the  delight  of  the  green 
and  the  playing  of  the  boys,  and  surely,  too,  Naoisi  [Neeshe] 
surpassed  all  the  youth  of  Emania."     "Naoisi,   the  son  of 
Usnach,"  said  Lavercan,  "  Naoisi,  is  his  name,  as  he  told  me," 
said  Deirdre,  "  but  I  did  not  ask  whose  son  he  was."     "As  he 
told  you  ? "  said  Lavercan.     "  As  he  told  me,"  said  Deirdre, 
"  when  he  made  a  throw  of  a  ball  by  a  mis-cast  backward, 
transversely  over  the  heads  of  the  band  of  maidens  that  were 
standing  on  the  edge  of  the  green,  and  I  rose  from  amongst 
them  all,  till  I  lifted  the  ball  and  delivered  it  to  him,  and  he 
pressed  my  hand  joyously,"     "  He  pressed  your  hand,  girl  ?  " 
asked  Lavercan.     '*  He  pressed  it  lovingly,  and  said  that  he 
would  see  me  again,  but  it  was  difficult  for  him,  and  I  did  not 
see  him  since  until  yesterday,  and,  oh !  gentle  nurse,  if  you 
wish  me,  if  you  wish  me  to  be  alive,  take  a  message  from  me 
to  him,  and  tell  him  to  come  and  visit  me,  and  talk  to  me  to- 
night secretly."     As  became  a  true  Knight  of  the  Red  Branch, 
Naoisi,  with  the  brown-black  hair  and  the  skin  as  white  as 
snow,  did  not  fail  to  appear  at  the  trysting  hour.  Accompanied 
by  his  brothers,  Ainle  and  Ardan,  and  150  champions,   he 


68  EARLY   IRISH   HISTORY. 

eloped  with  Deirdro  to  Alba,  where  they  were  hospitably 
received  by  the  King.  Cormac  was  filled  with  fury  and  what 
the  bards  call  jealousy,  and  meditated  revenge.  He  induced 
Naoisi  and  his  brothers  to  return  to  Emania  on  the  guarantee 
of  Fergus  MacRoy,  Cormac  Conlingeas,  his  own  son,  and 
Dubthac  Dael  Ulad,  who  pledged  themselves  that  no  harm 
should  befall  them.  Deirdre  warned  them,  but  in  vain,  not 
to  return,  and  not  to  trust  the  king.  On  their  arrival  the 
three  sons  of  Usnach  were  treacherously  slain  by  Cormac's 
order.  At  their  burial  Deirdre  went  to  the  tomb  and  dis- 
hevelled her  hair,  and  sang  the  lays  of  lamentation — 

That  I  should  live  after  Naosi 

Let  no  man  on  earth  imagine. 

Oh,  man  that  diggest  the  tomb, 

And  that  pullest  my  darling  from  me,  * 

Make  not  the  grave  too  narrow, 

I  shall  be  beside  the  noble  ones. 

The  most  pathetic  of  the  lays,  and  the  most  beautiful  lyric 
in  Gaelic,  perhaps  in  any  language,  is  her  farewell  to  Alba. 
In  unstudied  tenderness  and  delicacy  it  cannot  be  surpassed. 
Deirdre's  pity  for  the  sorrow  of  the  other  love,  the  Jarl's 
daughter,  touches  a  very  deep  chord  in  the  human  heart,  and 
is,  so  far  as  we  know,  unique  in  literature. 

DEIRDRE'S  FAREWELL  TO  ALBA. 

I. 
S6f Alt)  foit^  50  ViAlbAin  tiAim, 

tnuft  mbio"6  mic  tlifnig  ^5  f^itg 
Aeit)inn  y\.nX)e  op  leipg  a  t>enn. 

II. 

VA  X)a  f  Ait>  triAite  AlbAti  aj^  61, 

If  mic  Urnig  "oit^  cCift  cin, 
"O'lnjin  ^A^lA  "OuriA  U^eoin 

'Oo  tvtc  tlxieif e  pOg  g^n  pif. 

ni. 

"Oo  (iuif  Cuice  eiliT)  V)Aet 
<A5  aUxm*,  If  lAeg  f  e  a  coif ; 

If  X)0  $At)  f6  Cuice  Aip  CUAIfC, 

XNg  pllAt  6  flu^S  lnt5et\  rioif. 


DEIRDRE.  69 


IV. 


XY\a^  T)o  cuxitAt:)  mife  fin 
Un^f  mo  Cinr.  l^n  T)on  6"0, 

Cuifiof  mo  Cupt-An  Aip  cuinn, 
'S  X)A  cumA  liom  b^f  116  65. 

V. 

'Letio,"D^\p  mife  -Aip  a  cpnAiti 

x^innte  ip  ^p"oAn  ni|\'  Cam  bf^eg, 

"Oo  piLlet)A|\  m6  A  fceA6 

"Dif  "oo  CuippAt)  CAt  A\\\  t6uv. 

YI. 

•Qo  tuc  TlAeipe  bt^i^tAiii  pT|i 

'S  "OO  IU15  fo  cpi  1  |:piAt)nuif  Aj^ni 

11xj(b  ccuipfAt)  opmfA  sfUAim 

50  ccei$  uAim  Ait^  fluxxg  nA  mAt\t3. 

VII. 

tic  !  "DA  ccltiineAt)  fifi  Atiotc 
tlAeife  fteit  pAi  fepAC  a  ccpe, 

"Do  guiLpeAt)  f  i  50  t)eA<ic, 
'S  "00  $uitptnn-pA  po  peCc  16. 

VIII. 

Ca  ti-insnAtti  Cin  AgAm  p6in 
Aip  CjiiC  Att>An  po  p^it)  pot) ; 

t)A  plAn  mo  6eile  'ha  mepg, 
fA  liom  pein  a  Vi-ei6  'pA  li-op.^® 


Farewell  eastward  to  Alba  from  me, 
Goodly  the  sight  of  her  havens  and  glens, 
When  the  sons  of  Usnach  used  to  be  hunting, 
Delightful  to  sit  on  the  slopes  of  her  hills. 

II. 

One  day  when  Alba's  chiefs  were  feasting, 
And  Usnach's  sons  to  whom  love  was  fitting, 
To  the  daughter  of  the  Jarl  of  Dun  Trene, 
Naoise  gave  a  kiss  "  unknownst." 

"This  text  ia  from  Iriscbe  Texte,  2nd  Series,  p.  116  (Stokes).  Oiir 
translation  is  based  on  the  tranelation  there,  but  we  have  made  acme  changes 
for  which  that  eminent  scholar  is  not  responsible. 


70  EARLY   IRISH   HISTORY. 

III. 

He  sent  her  a  frisking  doe, 

A  hind  with  a  fawn  at  her  feet, 

And  he  went  to  her  on  a  visit, 

Coming  back  from  the  hosting  at  Inverness. 

IV. 

/ 

When  I  heard  that  myrelf 

My  head  filled  full  of  jealousy  ; 

I  shoved  my  little  boat  out  on  the  waves, 

All  equal  to  me  was  death  (from  grief)  or  drowning. 

V. 

They  followed  me  out  swimming, 
Ainle  and  Ardan,  who  never  lied, 

[They  spoke  comfortable  words  about  Naoise,  and  pacified  her.] 

They  turned  me  homewards, 

The  twain  that  would  fight  a  hundred. 

VI. 

Naoise  pledged  a  true  word, 

Thrice  he  swore  before  sword  and  spear  (*it\m) 

That  he  would  never  cause  me  grief 

Until  he  went  from  me  on  the  hosting  of  the  dead. 

VII. 

Ochone  !  if  she  heard  to-night 

That  Naoise  was  in  his  shroud  in  the  clay 

She  would  weep  unceasingly, 

And  I  should  weep  sevenfold  with  her. 

VIII. 

What  wonder  if  there  is  love  within  me, 

For  the  land  of  Alba  where  the  way  (of  life)  is  smooth, 

Safe  was  my  husband  within  it, 

Its  steeds  and  its  gold  were  mine. 

Deirdre,  according  to  our  text,  after  singing  the  lays  of 
lamentation,  leaped  into  the  grave  on  Naoise's  neck  and  died 
forthwith.  And  she  was  buried  with  the  sons  of  Usnach, 
and  their  flagstone  was  raised  over  their  grave,  and  their 
names  were  written  in  Ogham,  and  their  lamentation  rites 
were  celebrated.  Thus  far  the  tragic  tale  of  the  sons  of 
Usnach. 


DEIBDRE.  71 

The  greatest  insult  that  could  be  offered  to  a  Gaelic  cham- 
pion was  to  violate  his  guarantee.  Fergus  and  Cormac 
Conlingeas,  with  their  followers,  rose  up  against  the  King  and 
burned  Emania.  They  were,  however,  afterwards  defeated 
and  compelled  to  fly  to  Connact,  where  they  were  welcomed 
by  Meve  and  OiliolL^^ 

Then  commenced  the  long  war  between  Concobar  of  Ulster 
and  M6ve  of  Connact,  in  which  she  was  aided  by  chieftains 
and  champions  from  all  the  provinces  of  Erin.  The  events  of 
this  war  form  the  subject  matter  of  a  cycle  of  vSagas,  commonly 
known  as  the  Red  Branch  Cycle,  in  which  we  follow  the 
fortunes  of  the  bravest  of  the  Gael,  Cuchulainn. 

Setna  killed  Rolecthaid  at  Rathcruachain  whilst  he  was  under  the  guaran* 
tee  of  Feacba. 

Four  years  were  reigned  by  Setna  the  Tall, 

Fell  the  King  by  his  great  son  [Fcacha], 

Forgave  not  the  son  the  dreadful  deed 

To  his  father  his  being  outraged. — G.  Coemaia  Erin  Ard. 

^  Fergus  sings  in  the  Tain  : 

1p  me  cuiti5lAim  riA  fluAju  fAiti, 
ludj  mo  f-AiiAi^ce  -o'llLcAib. 

It  is  I  that  gathered  the  forces  eastward 

In  revenge  for  my  dishonour  by  the  Ultoniana. , 


[    72    3 


CHAPTER  VL 

CUCHULAINN. 

*"T^HE  death  of  Cuchulainn,  the  bravest  hero  of  the  Gael.  .  . 
1  Seven  years  was  his  age  when  he  received  arms  ;  seven- 
teen 3^ears  his  age  when  he  was  behind  the  Cows  of  Cuaiigne  ; 
twenty-seven  years  his  age  when  he  died."i  Such  is  the  entry 
in  Tighernach,  at  the  date  A.D.  1,  apparently.  The  bravest  of 
the  brave  (Setanta  was  his  first  name),  was  the  son  of  Sualtam, 
of  the  line  of  Eremon,  who  was  chieftain  of  Muirtheimne. 
This  was  the  level  land  of  Louth,  through  which  flows  the 
river  Dee,  on  which  now  stands  the  town  of  Ardee.  Sualtam 
was  married  to  Dechtire,  Concobar's  sister,  and  had  his  dun 
and  great  house  and  pillar  ("  Temair  and  Coirthech  ")  on  a 
hill  about  one  mile  from  Dundalk.  The  mound,  which  is  now 
all  that  remains  of  it,  is  still  forty  feet  in  perpendicular  height; 
is  circular,  and  has  an  area  on  top  of  half  an  acre.  The  central 
dun  was  enclosed  by  an  outer  rampart,  which  is  still,  in  some 
parts  which  remain,  thirty  feet  high.  The  area  within  the 
rampart  is  over  two  acres,  and  the  dun,  subsequently  named 
Dun  Dealgan,  is  now  known  as  the  Moat  of  Castletown.  Louth 
was  at  this  time  included  in  Ulster,  and  Dun  Dealgan,  (Dun- 
dalk) was  a  frontier  fort  of  the  first  importance.  It  commanded 
the  entrance  to  the  Moyry  Pass,  four  miles  away  to  the  north 
— the  only  passage  to  Armagh  on  the  north,  except  round  the 
Carlingford  coast.  The  road  to  Armagh  (Slighe  Midluachra) 
from  Tara  ran  through  this  pass,  as  the  railway  to  Belfast  does 
at  the  present  time,  passing  through  the  wooded  district 
known  as  the  Fews  (Feadha).  On  the  left  of  this  highway 
rises  Sliev  Gullion  (Sliabh  Cuilinn)  [1,893  feet],  on  the  top  of 
which  is  a  cairn,  which  legend  says  was  piled  up  over  the 
grave  of  Cualgni,  the  son  of  Breogan.  By  this  cairn  a  watch 
was  kept  in  the  time  of  Concobar,  as  a  defensive  precaution 
for  the  protection  of  Armagh,  and  near  it  are  still  traceable 

^  Mors  Oonchulaind  fortissimi  herois  Scotorum.  .  .  VII.  mbliadna  a  aes 
in  tan  rogab  £;aisced,  XVII.  mbliadna  a  aes  intan  mboi  indegaid  Tana  bo 
Cuaiigne,  XXVlI.  mbliadna  immorra  a  aea  intan  athbath. — Rev.  Celt.,  svi..  407. 


CUCHULAINN.  73 

the  remains  of  an  enclosure  which  may  have  been  a  ho-dun, 
or  possibly  the  clithar  bo  Ulad,  the  shelter  for  the  cows  of  Ulad. 
The  Carlingford  mountains  (Sliabh  Cuilgne),  occupying 
the  headland  between  Dundalk  Bay  and  Carlingford  Lough, 
were  also  a  natural  fastness  of  srreat  strength,  into  which  the 
cows  of  the  fertile  pastures  of  Murtheimne  might  be  driven 
on  the  approach  of  a  raiding  force.  Behind  those  cattle,  as 
they  were  driven  into  these  strongholds,  the  champions  of 
Murtheimne  would  muster  in  their  strength,  and  foremost 
amongst  them  Setanta,  the  "  Wolf-dog  "  of  the  Border,  the 
watch-dog  of  Cuilinn  and  Cuailgne,  to  be  known  ever  after  as 
Cuchulainn.2 

"  The  least  that  is  expected  of  one  that  wards  the  marches," 
Cuchulainn  says  in  the  Tain,  "  is  to  raise  the  cry,  to  give 
prompt  warning,  to  be  able  to  say  who  it  is  that  comes  the 
way,"     And  Sualtam,  when  they  were  at  the  pillar  of  stone 
of  Ard  Cuillin,  bids  him  "  Take  warning  to  the  men  of  Ulad 
(of  the  approach  of  Meve's  army) — bid  them  that  they  be  not 
in  the  great  open  plains,  but  betake  them  to  the  woods  and 
glens  of  the  province  if  so  they  may  evade  the  men  of  Erin." 
One  of  the  most  formidable  of  Setanta's  foes,  a  chieftain  of 
the  Firvolce,  Ceat  Mac  Magach,  is  described  in  our  texts  as  a 
mighty  warrior  of  Connactand  a  fierce  "  Wolf  of  Evil "  to  the 
men  of  Ulster  (pncu  n'uilc  ar  Ultacaibh).     The  wolf  was  soon 
to  come  prowling  in  quest  of  prey  from  Connact  in  the  host  of 
Meve  and  test  the  fighting  qualities  of  the  watch-dog  of  Ulad. 
"  This  Ceat  was  a  man  of  prowess,"  says  Keating.     "  He  con- 
tinued during  his  life  to  be  the  untiring  plunderer  of  the  men 
of  Ulster,  and  in  these  raids  he  was  aided  by  Fergus  Mac  Roigh 
and  his  band  of  exiles.     It  was  during  this  time,  which  ex- 
tended over  seven  years  before  the  great  invasion  by  Meve, 
that  Setanta  performed  those  feats  of  valour  which  the  most 
famous  of  the  Gaelic  poems  was  composed  to  celebrate."  ^ 

2  There  were  very  many  Gaelic  names  into  which  Cu,  the  famous  wolf-dog, 
entered,  e.g.,  Cu  Ulad,  Cu  Connact,  Cu  Muman,  etc.,  etc.  There  were  also 
many  places  near  Dundealgan  called  Cuillin — Sliab  Cuillin,  Cerd  Cuillin,  Shge 
Cuillin,  and  a  river  called  Cuillin.  It  is,  we  think,  probable  that  a  large 
district  in  the  plain  of  Louth  was  at  one  time  called  Cuillin,  or  by  some  name 
which  Culainn  now  represents  in  Cuchulainn.  The  story  of  the  smith's  dog  is 
an  etymological  "  Wahres  ouriosum,"  as  the  Germans  have  it. 

^  Ceat  was  the  brother  of  Oilioll  Finn,  chief  of  the  fierce  Gamanraide  of  Irrus 
Domuann,  from  whom  descended  the  Clanna  Moma. — O'Mahony,  271,  274. 


74  EARLY   IRISH  HISTORY. 

The  Tain  may  be  divided  into  three  sections— (1)  The 
Feats  which  we  have  just  referred  to,  which  may  be  called 
the  dptffrito  of  Cuchulainn  ;  (2)  his  Boyish  Exploits,  an  episode 
which  occupies  nearly  a  sixth  of  the  poem ;  and  (3)  the  Legend 
of  the  Two  Mytho-heroic  Bulls,  which  were,  according  to 
a  popular  account,  the  re-births  of  two  swineherds  who  hated 
and  fought  with  each  other  in  their  lifetime,  and  had  passed 
into  the  shapes  of  various  animals  before  becoming  bulls. 
Many  suppose  that  this  old  legendary  feud  has  lasted  into  our 
own  times  under  the  protection  of  the  shillelaghs  of  the 
"  Three-year-old  "  and  "  Four-year-old  "  factions,  which  is  said 
to  have  originated  about  the  age  of  a  bull.  These  bulls,  named 
the  Dun  or  Brown  of  Cuailgne  and  Finbheannach  (Fin-van- 
ach)  or  White  Horn,  were  endowed  with  intelligence.*  The 
great  Queen  Mor-Rigu  speaks  to  them.  Neither  the  Bocanach 
(male  goblins),  nor  the  Bananach  (female  goblins),  nor  the 
geniti  glinni  ^  (Sprites  of  the  Valley),  could  come  into  one 
cantred  with  them. 

Their  appearance  in  the  T4in  is  an  excrescence  of  the 
decadence,  in  which  time,  in  our  judgment,  the  prose  part  of 
the  Tain,  in  the  Book  of  Leinster,  was  composed  or  redacted.^ 

*  Cophur  in  Da  Mucceda  (the  Generation  of  the  two  Swineherds;. — Ir. 
Texte,  2nd  Series,  230. 

5  Genita  glinni,  female  sprites  {sini;.  genit)  of  the  valley.  Bocanachs, 
male  Bananachs,  female,  goblins.     Joyce,  Soc.  Hist.  I.,  269. 

8  The  text  of  the  Tain  is  found  partly  in  the  leABdji  tia  hUit)1iiie,  and  the 
part  missing  from  that  is  found  in  the  "  Yellow  Book  of  Lecan  V  (1400  c).  The 
latter  includes  the  Ferdiad  portion  in  a  brief  text  with  old  linguistic  forms, 
which,  however,  is  very  brief,  and  v/as,  as  we  have  mentioned,  in  the  case  of 
the  murder  of  the  Sons  of  Usnach,  intended  to  be  expanded  and  embellished  by 
the  S5eAlAiT)e,  a  privilege,  the  abuse  of  which  introduced  the  decadence.  The 
metrical  part  of  version  in  the  Book  of  Leinster  is,  we  think,  the  oldest  version 
of  the  "  Ferdiad,"  and  the  oldest  part  of  the  Tain. 

Windisch  has  recently  published  a  splendid  edition  of  the  Tain  from 
the  text  in  the  Book  of  Leinster.  The  great  scholar  who  has  thus  added  to  the 
huge  debt  the  Gael  owe  him  justly  observes  that  they  are  entitled  to  be  proud 
of  their  old  Hero-Saga — "  Irland  darf-stolz  seiu  auf  seine  alte  Helden  Saga. — 
Tain  bo  Cualgne  nach  Dem  Buch  von  Leinster  Leipzig  (I'JOo)." 

Tain  ho  spems  to  us  to  be  =  ba,  cows,  and  to  be  used  for  euphony,  and 
because  "  ba  "  has  divers  meanings,  t)6cAince  means  cattle  herds,  and  if 
CAin=x)o-Aj;A-im  (drive),  which  we  leave  to  experts  to  decide,  it  can  receive  a 
full  meaning  in  "  drove,"  The  primary  sense  of  CAin  bo  would  thus  be  a 
herd  or  drove  of  cows.  In  a  secondary  use  it  would  mean  a  ballad  or  story  of 
a  raid  for  lifting  or  hosting  for  the  rescue  of  cattle,  with  episodes  and  embellish- 
ments. Caiii  bo  would  thus  be  wholly  inappropriate  as  a  title  for  a  ballad  or 
story  describing  a  foray  for  a  magic  bull.  In  this  way  biiuoiTjen,  a  hostel,  has 
a  secondary  meaning,  i.e.,  a  brawl  at  a  hostel,  e.s.,  bjioitien  bes  "A  h^tmAine 
••  the  little  brawl  at  Almhain."  The  observations  of  S.  H.  O  Grady  on  this 
point  seem  entitled  to  carry  his  views,     tbilva  Gadelica  II.,  xvi. 


CUCHULAINN.  75 

The  story  of  the  "  Boyish  Feats  "  was  told  to  Meve  during 
the  march  to  Ulster  by  Fergus  and  Cormac  Conlingeas  and  by 
Fiacha.  We  shall  only  refer  to  it  for  the  purpose  of  introduc- 
ing our  readers  to  the  following  legend. 

According  to  the  story  in  the  "Boyish  Feats  of  Cu" 
Setanta  got  the  name  in  this  way.  At  a  feast  given  by  Culainn 
the  Smith,  who  lived  near  Sliabh  Cuilinn,  Setanta  being  then 
six  years,  killed  a  fierce  dog  (cu)  belonging  to  the  Smith. 
"  Little  boy,"  said  the  Smith,  "  that  was  a  good  member  of  my 
family  you  took  from  me,  a  safeguard  of  raiment,  of  flocks  and 
of  herds."  "  Be  not  angered  thereat,"  said  the  boy,  "  for  in 
this  matter  myself  will  pronounce  an  equitable  award.  If  in 
all  Erin  there  be  a  whelp  of  that  dog's  breed  by  me  shall  he 
be  nurtured  till  he  be  as  fit  for  action  as  his  sire  (that  I  have 
killed).  In  the  meantime  myself  will  do  thee  a  ban-dog's 
office  in  guarding  of  thy  cattle  and  substance  and  strong 
place."  "  Well  hast  thou  made  the  award,"  said  Concobar, 
and  Cathbad  the  Wizard,  chiming  in,  declared  that  he  could 
not  have  done  it  better,  and  that  thenceforth  the  boy  should 
bear  the  name  Cu-Chulainn  or  Culainn's  Hound.  "  I  like  my 
own  name  better,"  said  the  boy.  "  Setanta  Mac  Sualtaim." 
"  Never  say  it,"  remonstrated  Cathbad,  "  for  all  men  in  the 
world  shall  have  their  mouths  full  of  that  name."  ^ 

When  the  invasion  of  Ulster  was  resolved  on,  Meve  sent 
word  to  the  seven  Manies,  her  sons  by  Oilioll,  to  come  to 
Cruachan  and  mobilize  her  army.  The  first  corps  had  on  them 
black  heads  of  hair  and  green  mantles,  held  with  silver 
brooches,  and,  next  to  their  skins,  shirts  of  gold  thread,  having 
round  patterns  of  red  gold.  The  second  corps  was  composed 
of  the  Firvolce  from  Irrus  Domnann,  under  the  leadership  of 
Ceat  Mac  Magach  and  his  six  brothers.  They  had  new  cut  hair, 
and  the  colour  is  consequently  not  stated,  as  it  could  not  be 
seen  under  their  caps  or  helmets.  They  had  grey  mantles 
and  pure  white  shirts.     This  corps  consisted  of  3,000  warriors. 

The  third  corps  was  formed  of  the  Ulster  Exiles,  under 
Fergus  MacRoigh  and  Cormac  Conlingeas.  They  had  flowing, 
fair,  yellow  hair,  with  sheen  of  gold  all  cast  loose.  Fine  wrou^^ht 
crimson  mantles  with  cunning  devices  of  ornaments  enwrapped 
them,  and  at  their  breast  they  had  golden  jewelled  brooches, 

'  The  CuchulliQ  Saga.     E.  Hull,  141. 


76  EARLY   IRISH   HISTORY. 

and  silken  shirts,  fine  textured,  touched  the  middle  of  their 
insteps.  In  unison  they  both  lifted  their  feet  and  put  them 
down.  They  numbered  8,000.  This  force  was  joined  by 
contingents  from  the  other  provinces.  The  army  marched  by 
Athlone  to  Kells.  Meve  went  with  them  in  her  chariot, 
accompanied  by  her  daughter,  Finnabhair  ("  bright  beam,"  or 
of  the  "  fair  eyebrows  ").  When  they  halted  for  the  night  she 
inspected  the  troops.  The  Gailleoin  of  Leinster,  a  Firvolce 
tribe,  won  her  admiration  and  excited  her  fears.  "  What 
excellence  performed  they  that  they  should  be  praised  before 
all  others  ?  "  said  her  husband,  Oilioll. 

"  They  give  cause  for  praise,"  said  Meve,  "  for  whilst  others 
were  choosing  their  camping-ground  they  had  made  their 
booths  and  shelters;  and  while  others  were  makinsr  their 
booths  and  shelters  they  had  their  feast  of  meat  and  alo  laid 
out ;  and  while  others  were  laying  out  their  feactc  of  bread  and 
ale  these  had  finished  their  food  and  fare,  and  while  others 
were  finishing  their  food  and  fare  these  were  asleep.  Even  as 
their  slaves  and  servants  have  excelled  the  slaves  and  servants 
of  the  men  of  Erin  so  will  their  good  heroes  and  youths  excel 
the  good  heroes  and  youths  of  the  men  of  Erin  in  this 
hosting." 

Oilioll  said  it  was  all  the  better  since  they  were  fighting  on 
their  side.  But  Meve  protested  that  she  would  like  to  have 
them  killed  and  slaughtered  as  she  considered  that  they  were 
a  danger  in  the  host.  Oilioll  and  Fergus  dissented  from  this 
and  remonstrated  with  her,  audit  was  finally  settled  that  they 
were  to  be  distributed  among  the  men  of  Erin  so  that  not 
more  than  five  of  them  should  remain  together.  This  was  a 
surious  incident,  and  may,  perhaps,  be  regarded  as  a  pre- 
monition of  the  revolt  of  the  Atheach  Tuatha  under 
Cairbre  Cennceat  which  occurred  at  the  commencement  of 
our  era. 

Kells  is  on  the  borders  of  Ulster,  and  the  dptorim  of 
Cuchulainn  commences  from  this  point.  His  feats  consisted  in 
a  series  of  single  combats  with  champions  from  Move's  array 
whilst  the  men  of  Ulad  were  suffering  from  a  malady  which 
was  called  the  noinclen  Ulad.  According  to  the  tale  in  the 
Book  of  Leinster  (125,  p.  40)  this  illness  was  to  last  for  four 
days  and  five  nights  =  nine,  and  for  nine  generations.     This 


CUCHULAINN.  77 

malady  was  a  lethargy  (in  gala  ndian)  and  so  Noinden  would 
appear  to  mean  a  lethargy  for  nine  days.^ 

The  transformation  of  the  ces  noinden,  the  nine  whiles 
malady,  into  the  ces  noiden  (childbirth  debility)  must  be  an 
attempt  to  connect  the  debility  with  the  legend  of  Macha  and 
the  twins.  It  has  led  the  venturesome  still  farther  afield — all 
the  way  to  the  Couvade.  This  curious  custom,  which  is  said 
to  survive  in  some  remote  parts  of  the  world,  imposed  on  the 
husband  the  duty  of  taking  the  new-born  infant  to  bed  with 
him  and  nursing  it  whilst  the  mother  attended  to  household 
affairs.  There  is  no  trace  of  its  ever  having  existed  in  Erin, 
nor  could  domestic  incidents  of  this  kind  occur  simultaneously 
in  any  large  number  of  the  households  of  the  Red  Branch 
Knights,  There  was,  however,  a  form  of  the  sleeping  sickness 
known  in  Erin  in  the  Middle  Ages,  which  lasted  for  four  or 
five  days,  and  during  that  time  incapacitated  the  patient  from 
doing  soldier's  work.  The  malady,  epidemic  in  its  nature,  may 
have  existed  at  the  time  of  the  Tain,  and  would  very  naturally 
be  utilized  by  the  pie  who  created  or  reconstructed  the  Tdin  to 
account  for  the  absence  of  the  Red  Branch  warriors  and  so  give 
Cuchulainn  his  opportunity  and  his  victories  in  single  combat. 
The  legend  of  Macha  is  shortly  as  follows : — Macha,  the 
wife  of  Crunchu,  is  said  to  have  been  compelled  to  run  in  a 

^Windisch  observes  in  his  introduction  to  the  text  and  translation  of  the 
Noinden  Ulad — "  In  the  Book  of  Leinster  version  Noinden  stands  unmis- 
takeably  in  relation  with  the  number  9.  The  den  of  Noinden  may  belong  to 
the  old  Ir.  '  danus '  whiles,  and  to  the  SKR  dinn-doy,  although  it  is  not  a 
question  of  nine  days  but  five  days  and  four  nights  or  five  nights  and  four  days." 
Another  meaning  noinden  =  Tinol  =  a  gathering,  he  refers  to,  quoting 
O'Donovan,  and  continues — "  The  full  expression  for  the  matter  under  con- 
eideration  is  cess  Noinden  Ulad,  for  which  cess  and  Noinden  singly  are  used  as 
abbreviations.  The  full  expression  means  either  the  'weakness  '  of  the  men  of 
Ulster  for  nine  '  whiles,'  or  the  'weakness'  of  the  men  of  Ulster  orginating  in 
a  festival  meeting.  In  the  Book  of  Fermoy,  according  to  Todd,  are  found  ces 
naoidhen  (infant  or  child-birth  suffering)  from  0.  Ir  noidin  gen.  noiden,  a 
child.  But  since  this  word  is  usual  in  the  spoken  language  the  abbreviation 
noiden   Ulad  for  cess  noiden  Ulad  is  inconceivable." 

The  reference  to  Todd  in  the  Book  of  Fermoy,  which  states  the  ces 
afflicted  the  Ulstermen  for  nine  generations. — Proc.  Ry,  Ir,  Acad.  MS.  series, 
vol.  I,  p.  17. 

We  do  not  understand  Todd  to  say  it  is  called  ces  noiden  in  the  Book  of 
Fermoy,  but  infer  the  contrary.  He  says  "  it  is  called  also  ces  naoidhean,  infant 
or  child-birth  suffering." — Windisch — Noinden  Ulad,  Koniglech  Sachsische 
Gesellschaft,  Phil,  and  His.  Classe,  1884,  337.  In  the  Yellow  Book  of  Lecan 
it  is  called  ceas  nagen,  which  Atkinson  equates  with  "ces  noiden  "(211,  line  40). 
This  affected  the  men  of  Ulad  for  the  reign  of  nine  kings.  O'Curry  gives  ceas 
naidhean,  child  debihty,  in  MSS.  37,  and  enchanted  sleep,  M.  and  C.,  II.,  319. 
Nine  was  a  magic  number.  See  the  catalogue  of  "  Nines"  in  L'epope^  Celtique 
(D'Arbois)  p.  527. 


78  EARLY    IT^TSH    HISTORY 

cliariot  race  at  Armagh  against  the  king's  horses  to  save 
Crunchu's  life.  She  pleaded  for  delay  as  she  was  about  to  be 
confined.  It  was  refused.  She  outran  the  king's  horses  and 
gave  birth  to  twins,  and  laid  her  curse  on  the  Ultonians,  the 
noinden  Ulad.  Hence  the  place  was  called  Emain  Macha, 
the  twins  of  Macha.  By  the  Ultonians  she  meant  the  Clanna 
Rury,the  descendants  of  Ir,  so  Cuchulainn,  being  an  Eremonian, 
did  not  come  under  this  legendary  malediction^  It  has  been 
observed  that  no  pedigrees  are  traced  to  him.  This  may, 
perhaps,  be  the  explantation.  The  Eremoniaus  would  not  trace 
to  him  as  he  took  sides  against  them  in  the  great  war.  The 
Clanna  Rury  would  not  trace  to  him  because  he  was  not  of  the 
line  of  Ir.  ^ 

According  to  the  account  given  in  "The  Proceedings  of 
the  Great  Bardic  Association,"  when  Senchan  Torpeist  was 
chosen  Ard  Ollamh  about  600  A.D.,  he  assembled  the  pile 
and  asked  if  any  of  them  remembered  the  whole  of  the  Tain. 
All  the  pie  said  they  remembered  only  fragments  of  it  The 
Book  in  which  it  was  written  had  been  taken  to  the  east  by  a 
certain  saoi,  as  well  as  the  great  Skin  Book  called  the 
Cuilmenn.  Afterwards,  when  the  Bardic  Association  had 
overstayed  their  welcome  with  the  hospitable  Guaire  at 
Durlus  on  the  Moy,  Morvan  the  hermit,  brother  of  Guaire,  put 
them  under  prohibition  (ge^f^)  not  to  stay  two  nights  in  any 
house  until  they  found  the  Tain.  So  they  had  to  leave 
Durlus,  and  then  searched  Alba  and  many  places  in  vain  for 
the  Tain,  and  finally  returned  to  Durlus.^** 

Guaire  gave  a  kiss  to  St.  Caillin  of  Feenagh  and  to  Senchan, 
and  a  general  welcome  to  the  Bardic  Body.  Morvan  the 
hermit  was  sent  for.     He  told  them  there  was  not  living  in 

3  In  the  prose  of  the  Tain  this  •'  noinden''  (nine  whiles)  is  lost  sight  of. 
It  is  stated  that  Cuchulainn  was  waiting  for  the  men  of  Ulster  from  November  to 
February.  "From  Monday  before  Samhain,  November  1st  to  the  Wednesday 
next  after  St.  Bridget's  Day  (or  Imbulc  LL.),  the  1st  of  Ferbuary,  saving  only 
a  brief  snatch  at  midday,  he  never  slept,  and  even  that  was  taken  as  he  leaned 
on  his  spear."  And  Cuchulainn  tells  Sualtam  after  the  fight  with  Ferdiad 
when  he  was  covered  with  hurts  and  wounds,  "  Get  thee  to  Emania.  Tell 
Ulster  that  for  the  future  they  must  come  themselves  and  follow  up  their  Tain 
{i.e.,  tliCir  cows),  seemg  that  1  am  no  more  able  to  defend  and  rescue  them, 
because  from  the  Monday  before  Samhain,  etc.,  in  the  gaps  and  passes  of 
Conaille  Murtheimne  I  have  stood  against  the  four  great  provinces  of  Erin." 
Hull,  171. 

"Joyce,  Soc.  Ir.,  IL  says  Durlus  was  near  Kinvaro  on  Galway  Bay,  it 
was  where  Guaire  held  his  court  alternately  with  Gort  in  Galway.  O'Curry 
says  Durlus  Maoid he,  on  the  Moy  M.  C,  11.,   87- 


CUCnULAINN.  79 

Erin,  nor  among  the  dead,  anybody  who  could  repeat  the 
Tain,  but  one  person  only — Fergus  MacRoy.  "  How  are  we  to 
act  ? "  said  they.  Morvan  said,  ''Send  invitations  to  the  saints 
of  Erin,  and  bring  them  to  the  tomb  of  Fergus,  and  fast  three 
days  and  three  nights  to  the  Lord,  to  send  Fergus  to  repeat 
the  Tain  to  you."  This  was  done,  and  Fergus  came  forth 
from  the  tomb,  which  was  at  the  brink  of  Lough  En,  in  Ros- 
common, and  he  was  about  repeating  the  Tain,  standing  up, 
but  they  would  hear  none  of  it  until  he  was  seated."  Kieran 
of  Clonmacnoise  was  he  who  wrote  for  him,  and  the  place  on 
which  he  wrote  it  was  on  the  hide  of  the  Dun  Cow.  The 
Book  was  then  known  as  Lebar  na  huidhre.^^  "When  the  Tain 
was  finished,  Fergus  returned  to  the  tomb.  The  saints  and 
the  Bards  proceeded  to  Durlus,  and  feasted  with  Guaire  for 
three  days  and  three  nights.^^ 

The  recension  of  the  Tain  that  has  reached  us  in  the  texts 
we  have  mentioned  is  remarkable  for  the  way  in  which  it 
deals  with  Fergus  MacRoy.  It  represents  him  from  the  outset 
of  the  expedition  as  acting  treacherously  towards  Meve  and 
her  allies  ;  leading  the  army  astray  ;  entering  into  a  compact 
with  Cuchulainn,  that  if  the  latter  pretended  to  be  afraid  of 
him  and  ran  away  he  would  do  as  much  for  him  on  a  future 
occasion.  "  Loth  am  I,"  said  Cuchulainn,  "  to  fly  before  any 
warrior  of  the  Tain."  "  No  need  for  such  repugnance,"  quoth 
Fergus,  "  for  in  my  turn,  what  time  in  the  great  final  battle 
of  the  Tain  you  shall  be  full  of  wounds  and  drenched  with 
blood,  before  thee  I  will  fly."     This  he  did  accordingly.^* 

This  treachery  appears  to  be  most  improbable,  and  is  quite 
out  of  keeping  with  the  chivalry  of  a  Red  Branch  Knight.  It 
may  have  been  introduced  as  a  salve  to  the  wounded  feelings 
of  defeated  Connact. 

Senchan  Torpeist  made  his  redaction  about  600  A.D.  He 
was  a  Connactman,  and  when  he  went  from  the  house  of 
Guaire,  "  the  hospitable,"  to  the  tomb  of  Fergus,  and  brought 
him  up  from  the  other  world,  we  may  be  sure  that  Fergus  did 
not  reveal  this  villainy  on  his  own  part. 

On  the  other  hand.,  the  Firvolce  obtain  a  very  prominent 
position,  and  much  praise  from  the  redactor,  and  we  suggest 

"  O'Cnrry,  M.C.,  ii.,  89.  '^  Q-oAti  gen.  Oiojie,  dark  grey. 

**038.  Soo.,  V.  125,  ImteAdc  tia  CttonroAirhe.  "  Hull,  1811. 


80  EARLY  IRISH   HISTORY. 

that  this  Connact  version  of  Tain  did  not  emanate  from  the 
tomb,  but  is  racy  of  the  soil  of  that  province.  We  may  be 
certain  it  was  never  presented  in  that  way  in  the  King's  House 
at  Emain  Macha.  ^^ 

There  were,  no  doubt,  many  versions  of  the  Tain,  and  none 
could  be  called  in  any  way  authorised  or  authentic.  There 
were  ample  grounds  for  the  note  appended  by  the  scribe  to 
the  version  in  the  Book  of  Leinster  : — "  A  blessing  on  each  one 
who  shall  faithfully  memorize  the  Tain  in  this  form,  and  shall 
not  put  another  form  upon  it."  He  adds  the  caution  of 
a  sound  critic — "  But  I  who  have  transcribed  this  history,  or, 
more  truly,  legend  (fabulum),  do  not  put  faith  in  some  things 
in  this  history  or  legend.  For  some  things  are  the  tricks 
(praestigia)  of  the  devil ;  some  things  the  figments  of  poets  ; 
some  things  are  like  the  truth,  and  some  are  not ;  and  some 
things  are  for  the  amusement  of  fools." 

The  fight  with  Ferdiad  is  the  most  famous,  and  the  finest 
episode  in  the  Tain.  Ferdiad  was  Cuchulainn's  most  formi- 
dable antagonist,  and  his  victory  over  him  was  his  greatest 
triumph,  "  Every  other  fight,"  he  said,  "  and  every  other 
combat  that  ever  I  have  made,  was  to  me  but  a  game  and  a 
sport,  compared  to  the  combat  and  fight  with  Ferdiad."  The 
fight  took  place  at  a  ford  of  the  little  river  Dee,  which  flows 
from  west  to  east  through  the  plain  of  Muirtheimne.  Ferdiad 
advanced  from  the  south,  where  Meve's  army  was  encamped, 
and  Cuchulainn  stood  behind  the  Tain  on  the  north  bank, 
protecting  them  in  their  retreat.  Several  single  combats  had 
taken  place  at  this  river  with  the  champions  of  Meve's  forces, 
who  are  styled  the  men  of  Erin,  and  then  it  was  discussed  by 
the  men  of  Erin  who  should  go  to  the  battle  with  Cuchulainn 
on  the  morrow.  What  they  all  said  was,  that  it  was  Ferdiad, 
the  valiant  champion  of  the  men  of  Domnann,  For  their 
mode  of  combat  was  equal  and  alike ;  they  had  been  taught 
the  science  of  arms  by  the  same  tutors — by  Scathach,  Uathach 
and  Aife,  and  neither  of  them  had  any  advantage  over  the 
other,  except  that  Cuchulainn  had  the  feat  of  the  Gae  Bolga. 
Messengers  were  sent  for  Ferdiad,  but  he  refused  to  come,  as 

^^  Senchan  was  by  birth  a  native  of  Connact,  and  we  have  a  shrewd 
suspicion  that  Fergus  MacRoy's  Ghost  was  also  a  Connactman,  with  a  liberal 
iash  of  Firvolcic  blood  in  his  veios. — O'Curry,  M.C.,  iv.,  83. 


CUCHULAIXN.  8] 

he  knew  what  they  wanted — that  he  should  fight  his  own 
friend,  and  companion,  and  fellow-pupil,  Cuchulainn.  At 
length,  being  threatened  with  wizardry  and  blemishing 
satires,  he  came  to  Meve,  who  made  him  tempting  offers — 
"  the  beautiful  Finnabhair,  the  princess  of  western  Elga  (Erin) 
on  the  killing  of  Cu  of  the  Feats,"  with  a  great  reward  in  rings 
and  his  share  of  plain  and  woodland.  He  shall  get  all  that  he 
desires.    Ferdiad  demands  guarantees. 

I  will  not  go  Avithout  securities 

To  the  Feats  of  the  ford  ; 

It  will  live  unto  the  judgment  day 

In  full  vigour  and  force  ; 

I  will  not  accept  though  I  die, 

Though  thou  excitest  me  in  larsuasre, 

Without  the  sun  and  the  mooji^ 

Together  with  the  sea  and  the  land}^ 

All  the  securities  he  requires  are  given.  Fergus  MacRoigh 
then  visits  Cuchulainn,  and  tells  him  to  be  cautious  and  pre- 
pared, that  "  his  own  friend  and  companion  and  fellow-pupil 
will  come  to  fight  him  next  morning."  "  We  give  our  word," 
said  Cuchulainn,  "  it  is  not  to  fight  ourselves  we  wish  our 
friend  to  come,^^  I  am  here  detaining  and  delaying  the  four 
entire  provinces  of  Erin,  from  Samhain  to  Imbulc  (Spring) 
and  I  have  not  yielded  one  foot  in  retreat  before  any  one  man 
during  that  time,  neither  will  I,  I  trust,  yield  before  him." 
Fergus  tells  him  again  to  beware,  and  says  : — 

It  is  I  have  gathered  the  hosts  eastwards 
In  requital  for  my  dishonour  by  the  Ultonians  ;*^ 
"With  me  they  have  come  from  their  lands, 
Their  champions  and  their  fighting  men. 

The  folk  in  Ferdiad's  tent  were  not  cheerful,  happy,  or 
unsorrowful  that  night,  because  they  knew  whenever  the 
two  companions  met  one  or  both  of  them  should  fall,  and  if 
only  one  that  their  master  would  be  the  vanquished.     In  the 

^^  This  is  the  old  Gaelic  pagan  oath.  In  the  L.  U.  we  have  the  transition 
oath,  I  swear  the  oath  that  my  people  swear,  and  Lugaid  Mac  Nois,  King  of 
Munster,  swears  by  God  ! 

"  O'Curry,  M.C.,  III.,  410.     Text  and  Translation  (by  Sullivan). 

^8  Fergus  had  evidently  never  heard  of  the  Two  Bulls  b3ing  the  casus  belli 

G 


82  EARLY   IRISH   HISTORY. 

morning  his  charioteer  endeavours  to  dissuade  him  from  goinp- 
to  the  ford,  and  said — 

It  is  better  for  thee  to  stay, 

It  is  a  meeting  of  which  grief  will  coma 

Long  will  it  be  remembered, 

Woe  is  he  that  goeth  that  journey. 

Ferdiad  answers — 

A  brave  champion  should  not  refuse 
Courage  is  better  than  fear, 

Ferdiad  then  goes  to  the  Ford/^  and  the  charioteer  hears 
the  noise  of  Cuchulainn's  chariot. 

I  hear  the  creaking  of  a  chariot, 

He  is  a  heroic  wolf  dog  who  is  in  it, 

The  wolf  dog  of  Emain  Macha, 

The  watch  dog  of  the  territory,  the  hound  of  battle, 

I  hear,  I  have  heard. 

And  now  as  a  sample  of  the  prose  style  of  the  decadence 
we  proceed  :  "  Ferdiad's  charioteer  was  not  long  there  until  he 
saw  something,  the  beautiful  flesh-seeking  four  peaked  chariot 
with  speed,  with  velocity,  with  full  running,  with  a  green 
pavilion,  with  a  thin-bodied,  dry-bodied  high-weaponed  long- 
speared,  war-like  croit  (i.e.,  body),  of  the  chariot,  upon 
two  fleet-bounding,  large- eared,  fierce-prancing,  whale- 
bellied,  broad-chested,  lively-hearted,  high-flanked,  wide- 
hoofed,  slender-legged,  broad-rumped,  resolute  horses  under 
it."2o 

Ferdiad  bade  welcome  to  Cuchulainn.  *'  I  am  happy  at  thy 
coming,"  said  Ferdiad.  "  The  welcome  would  have  been 
acceptable  to  rae  until  this  time,"  said  Cuchulainn.  "  It  were 
fitter  that  I  bade  thee  Avelcome,  for  you  have  come  into  my 
province,  and  my  women  and  children  and  youths  and  horses 
and  steeds  and  flocks  and  herds  and  cattle  are  out  before  thee." 
And  then  they  uttered  sharp,  unfriendly  invectives  against 
each  other,  and  then  a  softer  feeling  came  into  the  heart  of 
Cu:— 


19  ■NT, 


Now  Ferdiads  Ford.     Ardee,  Ai  f  eicoiAt).     ^  See  c,  20  infra. 


CUCHULAINN.  83 

When  we  were  with  Scathach 

Together  we  used  to  practice, 

Together  we  went  to  every  battle, 

Thou  wert  my  heart  comjianion, 

Thou  wert  my  tribe,  thou  wert  my  family. 

One  dearer  found  I  never  ; 

Woeful  would  be  thy  destruction, 

Art  thou  not  bought  with  divers  arms, 

A  purple  girdle  and  skin-protecting  armour  ; 


The  maiden  for  whom  thou  makest  battle 

Shall  not  be  thine,  O  son  of  Deman ; 

Finnabhair  the  daughter  of  Meve, 

Though  it  be  for  the  comeliness  of  her  figure ; 

The  maiden  though  fair  her  form, 

Shall  not  be  given  to  thee  first  to  enjoy ; 

Finnabhair  the  daughter  of  the  Kinsj 

The  reward  which  has  been  proffered  to  thee 

To  numbers  before  thee  has  been  falsely  promised, 

And  many  like  thee  has  she  brought  to  ruin. 


"  Too  long  have  We  remained  this  way  now,"  said  Ferdiad, 
"  and  what  arms  shall  we  resort  to  to-day  ? " 

"Thine  is  the  choice  of  arms  to-day,"  said  Cuchulainn, 
"  for  thou  was  first  at  the  ford." 

They  fought  with  massive  weapons  till  mid-day.  The 
shooting  was  excellent,  but  so  good  was  the  defence  that 
neither  reddened  the  other.  From  noon  to  eve-tide  they 
fought  with  straight,  hardened  spears,  with  flaxen  strings  to 
them,  and  each  of  them  wounded  the  other  in  that  time. 
They  ceased,  they  put  away  their  arms,  and  each  of  them 
approached  the  other  put  his  hands  around  his  antagonist's 
neck  and  kissed  him  thrice.  Their  horses  were  in  the  same 
paddock  that  night  and  their  charioteers  at  the  same  fire. 
Of  every  healing  herb  that  was  put  to  the  wounds  of  Cu 
he  would  send  an  equal  portion  over  the  ford  westward  to 
Ferdiad.  Of  each  kind  of  palatable  and  pleasant  intoxicat- 
ing drink  that  was  sent  by  the  men  of  Erin  to  Ferdiad 
he  would  send  a  fair  moiety  over  the  ford  northward  to 
Cuchulainn. 

Next  day  Cuchulainn  was  first  at  the  ford,  and  had  the 
choice  of  weapons.  "  Let  us  fight  from  our  chariots  to-day," 
said  Ferdiad.     The  wounds  inflicted  were  so  severe  that  the 


84  EARLY   IRISH   HISTORY 

leeches  could  only  apply  wizardry  and  incantations  and 
charms  to  staunch  the  bleeding.  The  combatants  embraced 
and  kissed  each  other  thrice,  as  before,  and  their  horses 
were  in  the  same  paddock,  and  their  charioteers  at  the 
same  fire  that  night.  The  third  day  they  fought  with 
swords.  At  eventide  the  separation  was  mournful.  They 
did  not  embrace  each  other.  Their  horses  were  not  in 
the  same  paddock,  nor  their  charioteers  at  the  same  fire  that 
night. 

On  the  morning  of  the  fourth  day  each  knew  that  one  or 
both  of  them  should  fall.  Cuchulainn  spoke  to  Laeg,  his 
charioteer,  and  said,  "  Laeg.  if  it  be  that  I  shall  begin  to  yield 
this  day,  thou  art  to  excite  and  reproach  me  so  that  the  ire  of 
my  rage  shall  grow  more  upon  me.  If  it  be  that  I  prevail 
then  praise  me  that  my  courage  may  be  the  greater."  "  It 
shall  be  done,  indeed,"  said  Laeg.  Cuchulainn  chose  the 
Ford  Feat,  in  which  he  was  used  to  destroy  every  champion 
that  came  against  him.  Great  were  the  deeds  done  this  day  by 
"  the  two  beloved  pillars  of  the  valour  of  the  Gael."  ^^  After 
the  fight  had  raged  furiously  for  several  hours  Cuchulainn 
began  to  flag.  Then  Laeg  interposed  with  taunts  and  insult- 
ing words,  but,  nevertheless,  Ferdiad,  in  an  unguarded 
moment,  got  in  a  home-thrust  with  his  straight-edged  sword. 
Cuchulainn  then  shouted  to  Laeg  for  the  Gae  Bolga.  "  The 
manner  of  that  was  this :  it  used  to  be  set  down  the  stream 
and  cast  from  between  the  toes.  It  made  the  wound  of  one 
spear  on  entering  the  body,  but  it  had  thirty  barbs  to  open 
inside."  Cuchulainn  caught  this  weapon  as  it  floated  down 
the  stream  between  his  toes,  and  made  an  unerring  cast  of  it 
at  Ferdiad.  "  That  is  enough,  now,  indeed,"  said  Ferdiad. 
'.*  I  fall  of  that."  Cuchulainn  ran  towards  him,  and 
clasped  him  in  his  arms,  and  carried  him  to  the  north 
side  of  the  ford ;  and  he  laid  him  down  there,  and 
a  faintness  came  over  him.  "Arise,"  said  Laeg,  "the 
men  of  Erin  are  approaching."  "What  availeth  me  to 
arise  now,"  said  Cuchulainn,  "since  Ferdiad  has  fallen  by 
me?" 

Up  to  this  point,  treating  the  expedition  purely  as  an 

^Ferdiad  and  Cuchulainn  are  styled  Gael  ("Oa  ATidAi|\  loit  jAfcix)  SactoaI), 
two  beloved  pillars  of  the  valour  of  the  Gael 


CUCHULAINN.  85 

invasion,  it  was  one  of  the  usual  raiding  cow-lifting  forays  which 
would  come  under  the  denomination  of  a  Tain-bo.  Upon  this 
was  in  after  time  engrafted  the  absurd  legend  of  a  bull-lifting 
expedition  and  a  battle  between  the  "Brown"  of  Cuailgne  and 
the  "  Whitehorn  "  of  Connacht.  The  men  of  Erin  carry  off 
the  "  Brown,"  but  are  overtaken  by  the  men  of  Ulster,  near 
Clara,  in  Westmeath,  and  a  battle  is  fought  at  Gairich  and 
Ilgairich,  in  which  the  men  of  Erin  are  defeated,  but 
succeed  in  carrying  off  the  "Brown"  to  Cruachan.  A 
battle  then  ensues  between  the  Bulls,  and  the  "Brown" 
is  victorious  and  returns  to  Cuailgne,  where  his  heart 
bursts  with  the  bellowings  he  thunders  forth  to  announce 
and  celebrate  his  triumph  ! — an  anti-climax,  truly,  as  Hyde 
observes. 

A  few  years  later  came  the  revanche.  Meve  again  invaded 
Ulster,  and  a  great  battle  was  fought  on  the  plains  of  Murth- 
eimne.  Cuchulainn  fell  mortally  wounded.  When  he  found 
that  his  death  was  nigh  he  bound  himself  with  his  breast- 
girdle  to  a  pillar-stone  that  he  might  not  die  seated  or  lying 
down.  And  thus  standing  up,  fully  armed,  and  facing  the  foe 
in  the  bloom  of  early  manhood,  passed  away  the  bravest  hero 
of  the  Gael.  Some  will  have  it  that  he  was  not  of  the  Gael  at 
all  but  a  mythological  person — a  solar  hero.  Nutt,  in  his  very 
interesting  and  popular  story  on  mythology,  entitled  "  Cuchu- 
lainn the  Irish  Achilles,"  says  "  Miss  Hull  has  summarised  so 
admirably  the  argument  for  the  mythical  nature  of  Cuchulainn 
that  I  need  not  apologise  for  borrowing  her  words."  The  sum- 
mary is  too  long  to  be  inserted  here.  It  consists  in  the 
enumeration  of  feats  which  no  human  being  could  have  per- 
formed, because  they  were  impossible.  Nutt  adds  "  racial  and 
historical  elements  have  been  added  to  the  myth."  We  think 
on  the  contrary  that  mythical  elements  have  been  added  to 
historical  ones  in  this  as  in  many  other  cases  for  poetical 
adornment,  or  if  you  prefer  it  for  the  amusement  of  the 
uncritical  in  a  credulous  age.  Nor  has  Meve  herself  escaped 
the  searchlight  of  the  solar  critics.  Our  texts  persistently 
assert  that  she  was  very  ambitious,  as  she  was  very  compre- 
hensive, in  her  views  as  to  her  rights  in  the  matter  of  what  is 
called  "her  allowance  of  husbands."  ("pefcuicite-o  me-DtJA). 
We  were,  tTierefore,   not  a  little    curious  to   ascertain   what 


B6  EARLY   lEISH   HISTORY. 

place  could  be  assigned  to  her  in  the  solar  mythology, 
and  we  felt  considerably  relieved  when  the  "  mythologists,'' 
professing  a  confidence  which  we  do  not  share,  announced 
to  the  world  the   startling  discovery  that  she  was  a   Dawn 

Maiden !  ^^ 

^  The  FoTir  Masters  do  not  g^ive  any  account  of  the  Tain.  Probably  they 
regarded  it  as  a  provincial  war  between  Connact  and  Ulster,  and  not  properly  within 
the  scope  of  the  Annals  of  the  Kingdom,  i.e.,  of  the  High  Kingship.  It  is  some- 
times stated  that  they  do  not  even  mention  Cuchulainn.  This  is  not  so.  Under  a.d. 
1197,  recording  the  death  of  Flaherty  O'Muldory,  lord  of  Cinel  Couall,  Owen  and 
Oriel,  they  say  "hewasaConall  in  heroism,  a  Cuchulainn  in  valour,  and  a  Guaire  in 
hospitality." 


[    87    ] 


CHAPTER  VII. 
Finn  mac  Cumhail. 

THE  most  celebrated  event  after  the  Tain,  before  the  birth 
of  Christ,  was  the  Togail,  or  destruction  of  the  Hostel  of 
Da  Derga  and  the  murder  of  Conaire  the  Great.  In  the 
time  of  the  Red  Branch  Knights  there  were  six  principal 
hostels  in  Erin,  each  situated  at  the  meeting  of  four  roads, 
and  comfortably  endowed  with  lands  sufficient  to  enable  them 
to  extend  gratuitous  entertainment  to  the  King,  his  officers, 
and  other  wayfarers.  Da  Derga's  Hostel  was  situated  at 
Donnybrook,  where  Bohernabruidne,  the  road  from  the 
thrushes'  glen  (Glennasmoil),  runs  by  the  Dodder  to  the 
mouth  of  the  Liffey,  and  crosses  the  Slighe  Cualan,  which  ran 
from  Dublin  to  Bray.  A  mound  was  levelled  here  in  1879,  in 
which  were  found  large  quantities  of  human  bones  flung  in 
heaps,  as  might  be  expected  in  the  case  of  a  hurried  inter- 
ment after  a  battle  or  massacre.  This  is  supposed  by 
Ferguson^  and  Joyce''  to  represent  the  site  of  the  hostel. 
Conaire  had  reigned  for  twenty  years  at  the  time  of  his 
murder  (40  B.C.)  during  which  time  there  were  great  bounties, 
to  wit :  "  Seven  ships  in  every  June  arriving  at  Inver  Colpa 
and  oak  mast  up  to  the  knees  in  every  autumn,  and  plenty  of 
fish  in  the  Bush  and  the  Boyne  every  June,  and  such  abund- 
ance of  good  will  that  no  one  slew  another  in  Erin  during  his 
reign.  And  to  every  one  in  Erin  his  fellow's  voice  seemed  as 
sweet  as  the  strings  of  a  lute.  From  mid-spring  to  mid- 
autumn  no  wind  disturbed  a  cow's  tail.  His  reign  was 
neither  thunderous  nor  stormy."  We  take  the  extract  from  a 
very  old  Gaelic  tale,  the  Bruden  da  Derga^  of  great  pathos 
and  beauty,  which  has  been  translated  by  Whitley  Stokes,  our 
greatest  Gaelic  scholar,  with  his  usual  admirable  felicity.  The 
reavers  who  killed  the  King  were  a  band  of  outlaws,  led  by  his 

^  Ferguson  has  treated  the  subject  in  a  spirited  poem,  Conary,  which  is 
greatly  admired  by  such  a  competent  judge  as  Yates,  "  The  best  Irish  poem  of 
any  kind." 

2  Joyce,  Soc.  Ir.  II.,  172. 

»  Bruden  da  Derga  (Stokes)  Ke/.  Celt.,  xxii.,  18, 


88  EARLY   IRISH  HISTORY. 


foster  brothers,  the  great  grandsons  of  Donn  Desa,the  champ; on. 
The  King,  though  they  were  ''his  brethren  by  the  tie 
of  fosterage,  for  crimes  that  justly  had  demanded  death,  by 
judgment  mild  sent  them  into  banishment"  After  their 
banishment  they  made  league  with  Ingcel,  son  of  the  King  of 
Man,  an  outlaw  like  themselves,  and  in  a  marauding  expedi- 
tion for  plunder  in  Bregia  came  upon  the  track  of  the  King, 
and  followed  him  to  the  Hostel  of  Da  Derga,  which  they 
stormed,  and  there  killed  him. 

It  was  probably  the  golden  age  we  have  described  that 
induced  some  writers  to  place  the  birth  of  Christ  in  the  reign 
of  Conaire  Mor.  Others  go  further  back,  to  the  reign  of 
Fachtna  Fathac.  Keating  places  it  in  the  twelfth  year,  and 
the  Four  Masters  in  the  eighth  year  of  the  reign  of  Chrim- 
thann  Nia  Nair  (a.m.  6,200).  So  we  look  in  vain  for  the 
certainty  Tighernach  is  supposed  to  have  found  after  the 
time  of  Cimbaeth.  Crimthann  went  on  a  famous  expedition, 
and  wrote,  as  the  legend  goes,  a  poem  of  seventy-two  lines 
about  it.  It  commences :  "  It  was  a  good  thing  that  I  went 
on  that  delightful  adventure."*  He  was  accompanied  by  his 
fairy  lover  (lenne^n  fi-oe)  named  Nair,  whence  he  was 
called  Nair's  hero  (Hm-o).  He  brought  back  to  his  dun,  on 
the  Hill  of  Howth,  many  things  rare  and  valuable.  We  can 
only  mention  a  gilt  chariot,  a  golden  chessboard,  inlaid  with 
a  hundred  transparent  gems,  the  Cedach  Grimthain,  a  beautiful 
cloak,  embroidered  with  gold,  and  two  hounds,  with  a  silver 
chain  between  them  which  was  worth  a  hundred  cumhals. 

The  war  of  the  Tain  was  followed  by  the  rising  of  the 
Firvolce.  This  revolt  should  rather,  perhaps,  be  considered 
as  part  of  the  struggle.  The  accounts  that  have  reached  us 
are  confused.  The  Four  Masters  speak  of  two  risings,  owing 
probably,  as  frequently  occurs,  to  the  existence  of  two  accounts 
of  the  same  series  of  events.^  We  shall  assume  that  there  was 
only  one  rising,  followed  by  an  intermittent  struggle — a  rising 
of  the  Firvolce,  aided  certainly  by  the  Clanna  Rury,  and  not 
improbably  by  other  foes  of  the  Eremonians. 

The  leader  of  the  revolution  was  Cairbre  Cinnceat.^   He  was, 

*i"llA  "oo  COT)  A  cAcctiA  n-Aii. — Eortunate  I  went  on  that  journey. 
^  Tighernach  has  only  one  entry — "  Cairpri  Cindcait,  5  years  til!  he  died." 
^CAifipjie    Cinn   ceAc,   CAi^p|ie  cenn  Cac  fiAige  aji  if  cac  f o  Ait  e  t  bA 
cenn  i:oftt<«  e. — Irische  Text,  Vol.  Ill,  386. 


FINN   MAC    CUMHAIL.  89 

the  Coir  anmann  tells  us,  "called  CinnCeat,  that  is  head  of  the 

Cat-raige,   since  it  was  they  reared  him,  and  he  was  head  over 

them."     Others  say  that  he  was  of  the  Luaigni  of  Tara,  and 

that  his  genealogical  origin  was  of  the  Firvolce,  whereof  the 

Poet  said : 

Cairbre  of  the  Firvolce  without,  treacherj', 
The  warrior  of  the  Luaigni  of  Tara, 
The  name  of  his  mastership  without  doubt 
He  got  from  the  Cathraigi  of  Connact. 

Another  account  was  that  the  shape  of  a  cat  was  on  his  shield, 
and  Eocaid  Ua  Floinn  said  he  was  with  two  cats'  ears,  and  a 
cat's  fur  between  them.  There  were  no  cats,  tame  or  wild,  m 
Erin  at  the  time  of  this  Revolution,'^  and  the  men  of  Erin 
nowadays,  whether  friends  or  foes,  would  not  be  likely  to  call 
a  popular  leader  a  kangaroo. 

There  is  a  legend  written  in  the  Book  of  Leinster,  in  very 
'  old  Gaelic,  commencing  : 

"  "Who  were  the  three  persons  who  spake  immediately  after  their 
birth,  and  what  did  they  say  ?  Morann  was  the  son  of  Cairpri  Cind- 
cait.  It  was  from  this  he  was  called  it,  because  by  this  Cairpri  were 
killed  the '  soerclann  that  were  in  Erin,  for  he  was  of  the  Aiieack  I'uatka 
of  Erin,  and  he  took  the  Kingship  of  Erin  by  force,  and  'twas  bad  in 
his  reign,  for  there  used  to  be  only  one  grain  on  evei'y  ear,  and  one 
berry  on  the  head  of  every  stalk,  and  one  acorn  on  the  top  of  the  oak 
in  his  time."8 

This,  we  think,  must  mean  that  he  was  called  the  head  of  the 
CuACA  CAC,  because  he  was  the  successful  leader  of  the  re- 
bellion of  the  Firvolce.  The  "  Cath,"  or  Cathraige  were,  as  we 
have  mentioned  in  our  first  chapter,  a  numerous  people  extend- 
ing from  Inis-Scattery   (Inif  CAquige),^    in  the  mouth  of  the 

T  Hamilton,  E.     The  Wild  Cat  of  Europe,  76  (1896). 

^mo](Ann,  immono,  rriAc  CAijipjie  cetro  cAic  i^  -oe  ^lo  tAb}iAfC4^  [feTje  .i. 
(ID  iDAubcA  teif  in]  Co|ip|ie  bi|tin  cec  f  oeti  clAnn-o  |io  bot  in  h-eiiin,  Aft  bA  oi 
AceccuACAib  b-etienn  -00,  oc«r  t^o  5^^  T^'S^  tia  h-et'enn  A^t  ecen  ocuf  t^op  olc 
A  t^ije  A|i  ni  bit)  Acc  oen  g^iAmne  1  cin-o  cecA  x)efi  -[  oen  •oijicu  a  ccin-o  nA 
cuflen-oe  1  oen  t)i|icu  im  multAC  nA  •oajiac  in  a  jie. — L.L.,  p.  r26b. 

N.B. — The  words  in  brackets  are  omitted  through  inadvertence  in  the 
lithograph  facsimile  of  the  Book  of  Leinster,  which  makes  the  passage  there 
unintelligible. 

^Scattery  Inis  is  always  written  lni|'  CAtAij ;  but  in  the  spoken  lan- 
guage was,  no  doubt,  called  lnnif  CACiiAige,  ex  quo,  Scattery.  "The 
Western  Isles,  were  variously  called  Etleanna  Bride,  Hebrid,  etc.,  and  anciently 
'  Iniscead,'  '  innis  Cat,''  Isle  of  the  Cat,  Isle  of  the  Catey.  Probably  the  Catey 
were  the  people  who  gave  the  name  '  cataibh,'  cat  county,  to  Sutherland,  and 
Cat-inis,  Cat-Ness,  Caithness." — A.  Carmichael,  Carmena  Gaedelica,  Vol.  I., 
Introduction,  p.  I. 


90  EARLY   IRISH   HISTORY. 

Shannon  to  the  Hebrides,  1titi!>  cac,  and  thence  northwards 
to  Caithness  The  word  Cathraige  is  not  in  any  way  connected 
with  Aitheach  Tuatha,  as  is  sometimes  assumed.  The  word 
"  athi  "  is  glossed  "  usvura"  and  is  defined  by  Atkinson  in  his 
valuable  glossary  to  the  Brehon  Law  Tracts,  to  mean  "  a  return 
for  anything,  retribution."  So  in  the  common  phrase,  d'aithe'^f' 
indligid  air,"  to  avenge  his  illegality  on  him.^^*  We  suggest 
that  the  Aitheach  Tuatha  were  the  tribes  who,  after  their  defeat^ 
were  made  subject  to  a  punitive  rent,  or  tribute,  and  thus  dis- 
tino-uished  from  "  Saor  Clanna,"  who  were  free  from  it. 

The  rising  began  with  a  massacre,  it  is  said,   which   was 
treacherously  planned  and  carried  out  at  a  banquet.     Accord- 
ino-  to  some  accounts  an  arrangement  was  come  to  by  which  an 
Eremonian  became  High  King,  and  Morann,  the  son  of  Cairbre, 
Chief  Justice.     This  was  at  the  instance  of  the  "  very  intelli- 
gent "  Morann,  who  sent  to  Alba  the  celebrated  Udhact  or 
Will,  for  that  purpose.     He  had  a  sin,  or  chain,  called   idh 
Morainn  which  was  a  most  useful  adjunct  in  the  administra- 
tion of  justice,  the  loss  of  which  is  to  be  deeply  regretted. 
When  placed  round  the  neck  of  a  judge  it  almost  choked 
him  if  he  was  about  to  deliver  a  wrong  judgment.      It  was 
equally  efficient  when  placed  around  the  neck  of  a  witness  who 
was  about  to  give  false  evidence. 

Finally  Elim,  of  the  Clanna  Rury,  became  High  King,  and 
reio-ned  for  20  years  at  Tara.  In  the  meantime  the  legend 
tells  us  three  of  the  nobles  had  escaped  from  the  first  massacre 
at  Mao-h  Cro,  near  Knockma,  in  Galway,  all  being  then  infants 
in  their  mother's  womb,  to  wit — Feradach,  from  whom  des- 
cended the  race  of  Conn  of  the  Hundred  Battles  ;  Tibraide 
Tirech,  from  whom  descended  the  Dal-araide,  and  Corb  Olum, 
from  whom  descended  the  kings  of  the  Eoghanacht  in  Munster ; 
and  from  a  second  supposed  massacre  at  Magh  Bolg,  in  Cavan ; 
escaped  also  Tuathal,  in  the  womb  of  Eithne,  daughter  of  the 
kino-  of  Alba.  In  a.d.  76  Tuathal,  called  Teachtmar,  or  the 
legitimate,  having  arrived  at  man's  estate,  returned  and  fought 
for  Tara  a  battle  at  Aicill,  in  which  Elim  was  defeated  and 


1"  Feredach  proceeded  to  extirpate  the  Aitheach  Tuatha,  or  to  put  them 
under  creat  rent  and  servitude,  to  revenge  upon  them  the  evil  deed  they  had 
done  in  murdering  the  nobihty  of  Eren."  —  O'Clerigh,  Leabhar  Gabhala,  p.  136, 
quoted  by  0' Donovan,  F.M.,  1.,  9G. 


FINN   MAC    CUMHAIL.  91 

slain.  The  Four  Masters  state  that  during  the  time  of  Elim 
"  God  took  vengeauce  on  the  Aitheach  Tuatha  for  their  evil 
deed.  Erin  was  without  corn,  without  fruit,  without  fish, 
without  everything  that  was  good."  Tuathal  took  possession 
of  Tara  and  became  High  King  and  reigned  for  thirty  years. 
He  exacted  from  the  chiefs  of  the  Gael  the  same  oath  they  had 
taken  to  Ugaine  Mor.  They  swore  by  the  sun  and  the  moon, 
and  the  elements  visible  and  invisible,  that  as  long  as  the  sea 
surrounded  Erin  they  would  never  contest  the  sovereignty 
with  him  or  his  descendants.  He  fought  many  battles,  some 
say  188,  against  the  Aitheach  Tuatha,  and  re-established  and 
enlarged  the  boundaries  of  the  "  boardland  "  attached  to  Tara. 
Roughly  speaking,  it  extended  from  Birr  to  L.  Boderg,  on  the 
Shannon,  to  the  north,  and  then  eastwards  from  these  points 
to  the  sea.^^  On  Leinster  he  imposed  the  tribute  known  as 
the  boroma  (or  cow-tax).  The  particulars  of  this  tax  are 
variously  stated,  but  all  accounts  agree  in  representing  it  as 
oppressive.  The  most  moderate  is  to  be  found  in  the 
"  duan,"  attributed  to  Adamnan,  when  the  tax  was  re- 
mitted at  the  prayer  of  St.  Moling,  by  Finnachta  Fleadhach 
(673-693). 

"  Finachta,  Donncadh's  son,  remitted  at  Moling's  prayer 
a  mighty  tribute.  Thrice  fifty  hundred  kine,  with  spancels, 
and  with  each  cow  her  calf  was  given."  ^^  The  amount  appears 
quite  incredible  when  we  consider  that  Leinster  did  not  then 
include  East  Meath,  Westmeath,  Louth,  or  Longford,  and  only 
the  southern  parts  of  Dublin  and  the  King's  County.  Not- 
withstandinsf  this  remission  it  was  afterwards  claimed,  and 
Brian,  who  fell  at  Clontarf  (1014  a.d.),  has  left  a  name  con- 
nected with  the  levying  of  this  odious  impost.  Innumerable 
battles  were  fought  on  the  head  of  the  boroma  for  nearly 
1,000  years,  and  it  is  stated  that  the  High  King  shared  the 
proceeds  of  the  tax  with  Connact,  Munster,  and  Oirghiall, 
possibly  only  when  they  joined  in  the  hosting  to  lift  the 
boroma. 

The  rest  of  Erin  was  as  it  were  in  league  against  unfortunate 

^1  For  an  interesting  examination  in  detail  of  the  names  and  particulars  of 
Meath  and  the  boardland,  as  given  by  Keating,  see  ""DeftAnceACT)  riA  ITlnDC." — 
Gaelic  Journal,  Nov.  1900. 

12  Keating  (O'Mahony),  p.  481. — The  Ard  Righ,  however,  had  no  power  to 
remit  a  cow  rent,  so  as  to  bind  his  successors.     He  had  only  a  life  estate. 


92  EARLY   IRISH   HISTORY. 

Leinster,  which  was,  consequently,  driven  to  make  alliance 
with  the  invader.     A  Leinster  poet  sings — 

"  It  is  beyond  the  testimony  of  the  Creator, 
Beyond  the  word  of  supplicating  Christ, 
All  the  Kings  of  the  Gael 
That  make  attack  on  the  Leinster  men." 

A  silly  story  as  to  the  origin  of  this  tax  is  found  in  a  mediae- 
val romance  known  as  the  Boroma.^^  Tuathal,  so  the  story 
runs,  had  two  daughters,  Fithir,  the  elder  and  Darina,  the 
younger.  Eocaidh,  the  son  of  Eocaidh  Doimhlen,  King  of 
Leinster,  who  then  resided  near  Lugnaquilla,  in  Wicklow, 
visited  Tara,  and  asked  the  elder  sister  in  marriage,  it  not 
being  the  custom  to  wed  the  younger  before  the  elder  in  Erin 
at  that  time.  When  he  took  home  his  bride,  the  Leinster  men 
told  him  the  younger  sister  was  better.  So,  after  some  time 
he  went  back  to  Tara,  a  day's  journey  only  from  Lugnaquilla, 
and  said  that  his  wife  had  died,  and  asked,  and  got  in  mar- 
riage, the  younger  sister,  Darina.  After  Eocaidh  took  her 
home,  the  two  sisters  met,  and  the  elder  died  of  shame  and 
the  younger  of  grief.  For  this  war  was  declared,  and  the 
tax  imposed,  and  levied  as  an  eric  and  a  punishment.  This 
is  a  type  of  many  absurd  stories  to  be  found  in  Keating,  the 
Dindsenchus,  and  the  Coir  Anmann.  It  is,  of  course,  the  old 
story  of  Procne  and  Philomela.  Pandion,  King  of  Athens,  their 
father,  gave  Procne  in  marriage  to  Tereus,  King  of  Daulis  in 
Thrace,  in  return  for  aid  rendered  him  in  war.  Tereus,  how- 
ever, being  enamoured  of  Philomela,  feigned  that  Procne  was 
dead,  and  induced  Philomela  to  take  her  place.  When  the 
latter  discovered  the  truth,  he  cut  out  her  tongue  to  prevent 
her  from  revealing  it,  but  she  depicted  her  sad  story  on  a  robe 
which  she  sent  to  Procne,  and  both  took  a  terrible  revenge  on 
Tereus.  Procne  was  changed  by  the  pitying  gods  into  a 
swallow,  and  Philomela  into  a  nightingale,  and  Pandion  died 
of  grief. 

One  incident  of  this  war  of  Hate  connected  with  the  Boroma 
may  be  mentioned  here.     In  A.D.  246  (F.M.),  Dunlang,  son  of 

^3  "  Boroma,"  T.  O.  Russell,  preface.  Boroma  is  translated  into  modem 
Gaelic  by  T.  O'Russell,  and  into  Enghsh  by  W.  Stokes,  Rev.  Celtique,  vol. 
xiii.-23. 


FINN   MAC   CUMHAIL. 


)3 


Enna  Niadh,  King  of  Leinster,  made  a  raid  on  Tara.  Then 
ensued  the  massacre  of  the  maidens  at  the  Cluainfearta  (the 
western  slope  of)  Tara.  Thirty  Royal  maidens  was  the 
number,  and  ahundred  maids  with  each  of  them.  Twelve  princes 
of  the  Leinster  men  did  Cormac  (MacArt)  put  to  death  to- 
gether in  revenge  of  that  massacre,  together  with  an  exaction 
of  the  Boroma,  with  an  increase  after  Tuathal  (F.M.)  ^* 

After  a  reign  of  36  years,  Tuathal  was  slain  in  the  battle  of 
Moin  an  Catha  in  Dal-Araidhe,  by  Mai,  of  the  Clanna  Rury, 
King  of  Ulster,  who,  thereupon,  took  possession  of  Tara,  and 
became  High  King,  and  reigned  four  years.  He  was  suc- 
ceeded by  Feidlimid  Reachtmhar,  the  son  of  Tuathal,  and  on 
his  death  Cathaoir  Mor,  of  Leinster,  became  High  King. 
Cathaoir  was  of  the  line  of  Eremon,  and  was  descended  from 
Ugaine  Mor,  through  Laoghaire  Lore,  in  the  thirtieth  genera- 
tion. The  succession  was,  however,  contested  by  Conn  of  the 
Hundred  Battles,  son  of  Feidlimid  Reachtmhar,  who  was  also 
descended  from  Ugaine  Mor,  through  Cobthach  Cail  Breagh, 
the  elder  brother  of  Laoghaire  Lore. 

A  battle  was  fought  between  the  rival  claimants  at  Magh 
Agha,  or  Tailtin,  in  which  Cathaoir  Mor  was  defeated  and 
slain,  and  Conn  became  High  King.  On  the  day  of  his  birth, 
say  our  texts,  five  roads  were  "  discovered  "  leading  from  Tara. 
The  Slighe  Midluachra,  to  the  north,  probably  towards  the 
Moyry  Pass ;  the  Siighe  Cualann,  to  the  south-east,  towards 
Dublin  and  Bray  ;  the  Slighe  Dala,  to  the  south-west,  towards 
Ossory ;  the  Slighe  Assail,  to  the  west  towards  Mullingar ;  and 
the  Slighe  Mor,  westwards,  also  by  the  Eiscir  Riada,  to  Gal- 
way.  Conn  was  thus  provided  with  highways  to  advance  on 
every  side  within  striking  distance  of  the  foe. 

One  hundred  fights  in  Mumha  wide, 
Conn  Cead  Catha,  the  just,  had  fought. 
One  hundred  'gainst  the  Ulla  brave, 
And  sixty  fights  'gainst  Laighen's  sons. 

At  the  accession  of  Conn  (A.D.  123)  there  were  three  divi- 
sions of  the  Gael  in  Munster — the  Eberians  (Dergthine),  repre- 
sented by  Mogh  Niad,  the  ruling  king,  who  was  the  father  of 

^*Oae  is  reminded  of  the  massacre  of  the  school  children  in  Boeotia  during 
the  Peloponesian  war  recorded  by  Thucydides,  which  filled  all  Greece  with 
horror  and  indignation. 


94  EARLY   IRISH   HISTORY. 

Eogan  Mor  the  first,  also  called  Mogh  Nuadat ;  the  Ithians 
(Darini),  represented  by  Mac  Niad,  the  father  of  Lugaid  mac 
Conn ;  and  the  Erneans,  an  Eremonian  offshoot  from  Ulster, 
represented  by  Mogh  Lamha  and  his  son  Conaire.  Between 
these  divisions  there  was  sometimes  peace,  but  more  fre- 
quently war.  An  arrangement  come  to  there  between  the 
Eberians  and  the  Ithians  at  one  time  deserves  notice.  When 
the  kingship  was  with  one  division  then  the  Brehonship  and 
the  Tanistship  was  with  the  other  m  alternate  succession,  so 
that  on  the  death  of  Mogh  Niad,  the  Eberian  king,  the  Ithian 
Lugaid  mac  Conn,  the  son  of  Mac  Niad,  would  be  entitled  to 
succeed  him  as  king  of  Munster.^^ 

When  the  sovereignty  was  divided  the  Eberians  held  South 
Munster,  the  Degadians  North  Munster.  Curigh  mac  Dara 
was  king  of  the  Degadians  or  Erneans.  Mogh  Lamha  and  Con- 
aire. Conn's  son-in-jaw,  afterwards  succeeded  to  Curigh.  Tho 
Darini  were  of  the  line  of  Lugaid,  the  son  of  Ith. 

Eogan  Mor  had  been  fostered  by  Dari  Barrach,  the  son  of 
Cathaoir  Mor,  and  with  his  aid  he  engaged  in  a  struggle  with 
Conn,  which  lasted  many  years,  and  having  worsted  him  in 
ten  battles,  they  agreed  to  divide  Erin  between  them,  as  wo 
have  already  stated,  and  though  Eogan  was  routed  and  slain 
at  Magh  Leana  the  Eberians  from  that  time  forth  obtained  the 
dominant  power  m  Munster. ^^^  Eogan  Mor  left  one  son,  OlioU 
Glum, 

Conn  had  three  sons,  and  also  three  daughters,!each  of  whom 
became  the  wife  or  the  mother  of  a  H  igh  King.  The  eldest  Main 
was  married  to  Fiacaid  of  Ulster.  Her  son  Fergus  Dubh- 
dedach  became  Ard  Righ.  Conn's  second  daughter  Saraid  mar- 
ried Conaire.  He  became  High  King.  His  third  daughter  Sadb 
(Sive)  married,  first,  Mac  Niad  the  Ithian,  and  her  son  Lugaid 

15 The  Eberiatk  line  at  this  time  ran  thus-  (1)  Dergthine ;  (2)  Derg  ; 
(3)  Mogh  Niad  ;  (4)  Eog.xn  Mor  I.  or  Mogh  Nuadath ,  (5)  Oiioll  01am  ; 
(6]  Eogan  Mor  II.  Fiacha  Fermara  of  the  Hue  of  Eremon,  sou  of  Aengus  Tuir- 
mech  (Ard  Righ,  384  B.C*  had  a  son  Ohld  Eraun.  His  descendants  were  called 
Erneans,  though  quite  distinct  from  the  Firvolcic  tribe  of  that  name.  These 
afterwards  took  the  name  of  Dal  Fiatach  in  Ulster,  and  a  branch  of  them  that 
settled  in  Munster  took  the  name  of  Clanna  Degaid.  The  latter  had  been 
driven  from  Ulster  by  the  Clanna  Kury  when  Duaeh  was  Ar  J  Righ.  Duach,  of 
the  Une  of  Eber,  was  the  foster  son  of  Degaid  (the  grandson  cf  Olild  Eiaun), 
who  was  the  chief  of  the  Dal  Fiatach.  When  they  were  expelled  Duach  gave 
them  lands  in  Munster  and  Degaid  became  king  of  Munster  on  Duach's  death 
and  his  clan  were  thenceforth  called  the  Clanna  Degaid. 

^'^  An.  Clonmac^  Murphy,  S. J.,  58. 


FINN   MAC   CUMHAIL.  95 

mac  Conn  became  High  King,  On  Mac  Niad's  death  Sadb  mar- 
ried Olioll  01um=  She  bore  him  nine  sons,  of  whom  we  need 
only  mention  three — Eogan  Moi,  Cormac  Cas,  and  Cian.  The 
position  of  the  Ebenans  in  Munster  was  strengthened  and 
secured  by  the  marriage  of  OUoli  with  Conn's  daughter,  ''  by 
which  means  they  {i.e.,  the  Ebenans  in  Munster)  have  gotten 
themselves  that  selected  and  choice  name  much  used  by  the 
Irish  poets  at  the  time  of  their  commendations  and  praises, 
Sit  SAiT)t>,  which  is  as  much  in  English  as  the  issue  of  Sadb  '* 
After  the  battle  of  Magh  Leana,  Conn,  having  slain  or  van° 
quished  his  enemies,  reigned  peaceablv  and  quietly,  with  great 
increase  and  plenty  of  all  good  things  amongst  his  subjects 
throughout  the  kingdom,  so  that  all  in  general  had  no  wants 
until  the  king's  brothers  sent  privy  message  to  Tibraide 
Tireach,  son  of  Mai,  who  was  slain  by  Conn's  father,  whereupon 
Tibraide,  with  a  willing  heart,  came  up  to  Tara  accompanied 
with  certain  other  malefactors,  assaulted  the  king  unawares, 
and  wilfully  killed  him  in  the  hundredth  year  of  his  age  as 
he  was  making  preparations  towards  the  great  feast  of  Tara 
(A.D.  173).  He  was  succeeded  by  his  son-in-law  Conaire,  who, 
after  reigning  eight  years,  was  slain  by  Neimid  king  of  the 
Erneans  of  Munster.  Saraid  had  borne  Conaire  three  sons,  the 
three  Cairbres — Cairbre  Muse,  Cairbre  Baoiscaein,  and  Cairbre 
Riada. 

Conn, 


Art,  Conn  la,  Criaa,  three  sons 

and 
Main  =  Fiacaid,    Saraid  =  Conaire,    Sadb  =  {1st)  Mac  Niad,     three  daughters 


I  I             i 

Cairbre  Muse,  Lugaid  mac  Conn, 

Cairbre  Baoiscaein,  Sadb  =  (2nd)  Olioll  Olum 

Cairbre  Eiada  i 


Fiacaid  Maoil-lethan 


Eogan  Mor,     Cormac  Cas,    Cian, 

I  i 

Tadg,  ex  quo 
Dal  Caa.     O'Carroils  of  Ely. 

O'Meaghers  of  Ikerron, 
O'Cathasaigh  of    Magh 

Breagh. 
O'Connors  of  Glengiven, 
Barony  of  Keeuaght, 


Olioll  Olum  left  the  kingship  of  Munster  to  Cormac  Cas, 
and  on  his  death  to  Fiacha  Maoil-lethan,  and  then  to  their 
descendants  in  alternate  rule.     The  Dalriada  of  North  Antrim 


96  EARLY   IRISH   HISTORY 

and  of  Scotland,  descended  from  Cairbre  Riada,  i,e  ,  fliog  ^a-oa, 
of  the  long  forearm.  Bede  says  ; — "  The  Scot  or  Gael  under 
the  leadership  of  lleuda,  proceeding  from  Hibernia,  by  the 
sword  or  amicably,  won  for  themselves  a  settlement  amongst 
the  Picts.'  A.  second  settlement  of  the  Dalriada  was  made 
under  the  sons  of  Ere  three  hundred  years  afterwards.  Argyle 
is  =  Airer  Gaeidheal — the  district  of  the  Gael,  or  Airthear 
Gaedhil,  the  Eastern  Gael,  which  we  prefer. 

A  place  may  be  found  here  for  saying  something  about  the 
genealogy  of  the  Gael,  on  which  Hyde  has  a  valuable  and  in- 
teresting chapter  in  the  "  Literature  "  These  pedigrees  of  the 
Gael  go  back  to  one  or  other  of  the  four  aponymi — the  uncle, 
the  two  brothers,  or  the  nephew, 

The  pedigrees  of  the  Ithians  seem  to  meet  in  Lugaid  mac 
Conn,  the  grandson  of  Conn,  his  mother  being  Sadb. 

The  Eberians  converge  on  Olioil  Olum  and  spring  from 
Eogan  Mor,  Cormac  Cas,  and  Cian,  the  grandsons  also  of  Conn, 
their  mother  being  Sadb. 

In  the  line  of  Eremon  are  found  pedigrees  which  meet  con- 
siderably before  the  Birth  of  Christ.  The  Dalriada  of  Alba 
join  the  O'Neills  as  much  as  430  years  B C,  and  the  O'Cave- 
naghs  in  a  more  remote  period  m  the  reign  of  Ugaine  Mor 
(630  B.C.).  The  main  points  of  convergence,  however,  are  in 
Cairbre  of  the  Litfey  (25S  A.D.)  the  great  grandson  of  Conn, 
and  Niall  of  the  Nine  Hostages  (379  A.D.)  seventh  in  descent 
from  Conn. 

The  Irians  converge  on  Conall  Cearnach  and  Fergus  Mac 
Roigh,  the  heroes  of  the  Red  Branch,  and  were  generally 
called  the  Clanna  Rury,  from  Ruidhraighe,  who  was  Ard 
Righ  288  B.C.  Subject  to  reservations  for  interpolations  and 
such  like  infirmities  in  individual  cases  these  pedigrees  may 
be  taken  as  fairly  authentic  from  the  points  of  convergence 
indicated." 

The  truth  or  falsehood  of  these  pedigrees  is,  however,  of 
little  importance  in  comparison  to  the  evil  they  did  in  con- 
junction with  other  causes  in  keeping  the  people  divided  into 
four  clans  or  factions,  attached  to  each  of  which  were  numerous 
sub- divisions.  The  Gael  remained  a  clansman  when  he  ought 
to  have  been  a  patriot,  and  Erin  continued  to  be  a  "  trembling 

"  See  Hyde,  "  Literature,"  p.  GO. 


FINN   MAC   CUMHAIL.  97 

sod"   when  it  ought  to  have  become  a  homogeneous  and  har- 
monious nation. 

Of  the  three  sons  of  Conn,  Connla  and  Crinna  were  murdered 
by  their  uncles,  Eocaid  Finn  and  Fiacaid  Luighde ;  and  Art, 
known  as  Aenfer  [the  Single  One  (left)],  succeeded  his  father  as 
High  King.  In  the  twenty-first  year  of  his  reign  (186)  a  great 
battle  was  fought  at  Ceannfeabhrat,  near  Kilmallock,  in  Lime- 
rick, between  the  Eremonians  of  Munster  on  the  one  side,  and 
the  Darini  (Ithian)  and  the  Erneans  on  the  other.  The  three 
Cairbres  and  the  sons  of  OlioU  Olum  led  the  former  against 
Neimid,  son  of  Srobceann,  King  of  the  Erneans,  and  Lugaid 
mac  Conn,  chief,  and  Dadera,  wizard,  of  the  Darini.^^  The 
Eremonians  were  victorious.  Eogan,  the  son  of  Olioll,  slew 
Dadera  the  wizard.  Cairbre  Riogfada  slew  Neimid  in  revenge 
for  his  father,  and  Cairbre  Muse  wounded  Lugaid  mac  Conn  in 
the  thigh,  so  that  he  was  lame  ever  afterwards.  Lugaid  fled 
with  his  friends  to  Britain,  and  aided  by  the  King  of  Britain 
in  the  year  195  A.D.  returned  to  Erin  to  claim  the  High 
Kingship.  He  landed  in  Galway,  and  a  fierce  battle  was  fought 
at  Magh  Mucrirmhe,  near  Atheury,  about  twelve  miles  east  of 
Galway.  Victory  declared  for  Lugaid.  Art  Aenfer  was  slain 
by  Lugaid  Laga,  and  seven  of  the  sons  of  Olioll  Olum  fell 
fighting.  Lugaid  then  marched  to  Tara  and  took  possession 
of  the  High  Kingship,  which  he  held  for  thirty  years,  when 
he  fell  by  the  spear  of  an  assassin. 

Towards  the  close  of  his  reign  Cormac  mac  Art,  the  grand- 
son of  Conn,  disputed  his  right  and  drove  him  from  Tara.  On 
the  death  of  Lugaid  mac  Conn,  he  was  succeeded  by  Fergus  "  of 
the  Black  Teeth"  (226).  Cormac  then  fought  a  decisive 
battle  at  Crinna,  near  Stackallen  Bridge,  on  the  Boyne.  Fer- 
gus and  his  two  brothers,  Fergus  the  Long-haired  and  Fergus 
the  Fiery  of  the  Crooked  Teeth,  fell  by  the  hand  of  the  re- 
nowned champion  Lugaid  Laga,  the  brother  of  Olioll  Olum. 
Cormac  was  also  assisted  by  the  forces  of  Tadg,  the  son  of  Cian, 
the  son  of  Olioll  Olum,  who  then  ruled  in  Ely. 

Cormac  rewarded  the  followers  of  Tadg  (the  Cianachta)  with 
the  fertile  lands  lying  between  the  Liffey  and  Dromiskin  in 
Louth.     He  reigned  for  forty  years  and  fought  as  many  battles 

^8  The  Four  Masters  have  -oiiai  "OAttine,  the  dniid  or  wizard  of  the  Darini. 
Tighernach  has  -ojioch  "OAinne,  Darini's  buffoon.     Stokes,  Rev.  Celt.,  xvii.  i. 

H 


98  EAELY   IRISH   HISTORY. 

as  his  grandfather  Conn,  in  Ulster,  Connacht,  Munster,  and 
Leinster.     Tighernach  mentions  "  the  great  fleet  of  Cormac, 
son  of  Art,  over  the  sea  plain  for  the  space  of  three  years." 
So  we  may  infer  that  his  warlike  operations  were  not  confined 
to  his  own  country.^^    A  celebrated  event  of  this  time  was  the 
blinding  of  Cormac  by  Aengus  Gaibuaibteach.      The  oldest 
version  of  the  story  is  to  be  read  in  the  introduction  to  the 
Book  of  Aicill.     Cellach,  the  king's  son,  had  abducted  the 
daughter  of  Sorar,  who  was  a  kinsman  of  Aengus.      Aengus 
went  afterwards  as  champion  of  his  territory  to  avenge  a  tribal 
wrong  into  Luighne,  Sligo.      He  entered   a  woman's  house 
there  and  drank  the  milk  in  spite  of  her.     "  'Twould  be  fitter 
for  you,"  said  she,  "  to  avenge  the  daughter  of  Sorar  your  kins- 
man on  Cellach  than  to  take  my  victuals  by  force."     No  book 
mentions  that  he  did  any  harm  to  the  woman,  but  he  fared 
forth  to  Tara,  which  he  reached  after  sunset.      Now  it  was  a 
"  geis "  to  bring  a  warrior's  arms  into  Tara  after  sunset  in 
addition  to  the  arms  in  it.      So  Aengus  took  the  ornamental 
spear  of  Cormac  down  from  the  rack  and  made  a  stroke  of  it 
at  Cellach  and  killed  him.     And  the  edge  of  it  grazed  one  of 
Cormac's  eyes  and  destroyed  it.     Now  it  was  a  "  geis  "  for  a 
king  with  a  blemish  to  be  at  Tara,  so  Cormac  was  sent  to 
Aicill,  hard  by,  to  be  cured,  and  the  kingship  was  given  to  his 
son  Cairbre-Liffechair,  and  in  every  difficult  case  he  used  to  go 
to  consult  Cormac,  and  Cormac  used  to  say,  "  My  son,  that  thou 
mayest  know,"  and  explain  the  exemptions.     In  this  way,  it 
is  said,  the  Book  of  Aicill  on  crimes  and  torts  was  mainly  com- 
posed, to  which  we  shall  refer  hereafter,  as  well  as  to  his  court 
at  Tara.     Legend  also  says  that  he  composed  for  the  instruc- 
tion of  Cairbre  the  "  Teaching  of  a  King "  (Ue^sAfg  tlioj), 
"  which  book  contains  as  goodly  precepts  and  moral  documents 
as  Aristotle  and  Cato  did  ever  write."     The  instruction  is  bv 
way  of  question  and  answer.     For  instance,  Cairbre  asks  him, 
"  O  grandson  of  Conn,  how  shall  I  distinguish  the  character 


^8  The  migrations  and  out  settlements  of  the  Gael  in  Erin  in  Christian  times 
are  very  remarkable.  The  descendants  of  Cian.  the  third  son  of  Olioll  Olum, 
for  instance,  occupied  Ely  (South  King's  County  and  North  Tipperary); 
Ciarmachta  Ereagh,  above-mentioned  ;  the  tribeland  of  the  O'Conor's  at  Glen- 
given  in  Londonderry  ;  the  two  Galengas  in  Meath  and  Connacht ;  and  the  two 
Luighnes — Lune  in  Meath  and  Layny  in  Sligo. 


FINN   MAC   CTTMHAIL.  99 

of  women  ? "  *  "I  know  them,"  answers  Cormac,  "  But  I  cannot 
describe   them.     Their  counsel  is  foolish,  they  are  forgetful 
of  love,  most  headstrong  in  their  desires,  fond  of  folly,  prone 
to  enter  rashly  into  engagements,  given  to  swearing,  proud  to 
be  asked  in  marriage,  tenacious  of  enmity,  cheerless  at  the 
banquet,  rejectors  of  reconciliation,  prone  to  strife,  of  much 
garrulity.     Until  evil  be  good,  until  hell  be  heaven,  until  the 
sun  hides  its  light,  until  the  stars  of  heaven  fall,  women  will 
remain  as  we  have  stated.     Woe  to  him,  my  son,  who  desires 
or  serves  a  bad  woman.     Woe  to  everyone  who  has  got  a  bad 
wife."  ^^    Cormac  also  collected,  the  legend  says,  the  chroniclers 
of  Erin  at  Tara,  and  ordered  them  to  write  the  Chronicles  of 
Erin  in  one  book,  which  was  called  the  Psaltair  of  Tara.      In 
that  book  were  written  the  general  exploits  of  the  kings  of 
Erin  and  of  the  synchronous  kings  and  emperors  of  the  world, 
and  of  the  kings  of  the  provinces,  etc.     There  is  a  Psaltair  of 
Tara,  which  is  referred  to  by  Cuan  O  Lochain  (  +  1024)  and  has 
perished  injuria  temporis,  but  it  was  not  compiled  in  Cormac's 
time,  as  Ogham  was  the  only  writing  then  known  and  used. 
The  year  after  he  was  wounded  he  died  at  Cleiteach,  near 
Aicill,  on  the  Boyne.     "  The  bone  of  a  salmon  stuck  in  his 
throat ;  or  it  was  the  elves  that  destroyed  him  after  he  was 
betrayed  by  Moelceann,  the  wizard,  since  Cormac  did  not  be- 
lieve in  him."  ^^ 

In  the  time  of  Cormac  flourished  Finn  MacCumhall,^ 
(MacCool)  the  most  renowned  of  the  Gael  in  legend  and 
romance  with  the  exception  of  Cuchulainn.  The  story  of 
Finn's  parentage  is  told  in  a  tale  entitled  "  The  Cause  of  the 
Battle  of  Cnucha."  In  order  to  give  our  readers  an  idea  of 
the  austere  simplicity  of  its  style,  as  well  as  for  the  interesting 


20/4MC.  Law.  III.  82. 

2^  Our  fair  readers  will  readily  perceive  that  this  acrid  effusion  proceeded 
from  one  who  had  no  real  knowledge  of  the  "  ministering  aii;.'el,"  and  could  not 
have  been  the  teaching  of  a  wise  and  experienced  monarch  like  Cormac.  We 
should  attribute  it  to  some  sour  old  monk  who  had  disappointments  in  early  life, 
and  was  run  down  in  condition  towards  the  end  of  Lent. 

22Tighernach,  Rev.  Celt.,  3;vii..20. 

^^lAnn,  genitive,  feine,  a  noun  of  multitude.  Fianna  were  bands  of 
snilitia.     Fennidbe  was  the  individual  Fenian,  and  is  not  connected  with  Finn. 


100  EARLY    IRISH   HISTORY. 

views    of    society    it  presents,     we    shall    ^ive    it    slightly 
abridged  in  a  literal  translation  ot  the  original : — 

When  Cathaoir  Mor  was  in  the  kingship  of  Tara,  and  Conn  Ced 
Cathach,  in  Kells,  in  the  rigdatnna's  land,^he  had  a  celebrated  wizard, 
ISTuada,  of  the  Tuatha  Dathi,  in  Bregia.  The  wisard  was  soliciting 
land  at  Leinster,  from  Cathaoir,  for  he  knew  that  it  was  in  Leinster 
his  success  orship  would  be.  Cathaoir  gave  him  his  choice  of  land. 
The  land  the  wizard  chose  was  Almu  (the  Hill  of  Allen  in  Kildare). 
She  that  was  wife  to  Nuada  was  Almu,  daughter  of  Becan.  Nuada 
had  a  distinguished  son,  to  wit,  Tadg.  Rairin,  daughter  of  Dond- 
duma,  was  his  wife.  A  celebrated  wizard  also  was  Tadg.  Death 
came  to  Nuada ;  and  he  left  his  dun  as  it  was  to  his  son,  and  it  is 
Tadg  that  was  wizard  to  Cathaoir  in  the  place  of  his  father.  Kairin 
bore  a  daughter  to  Tadg,  i.e.,  Murni  Muncaim  (of  the  fair  neck)  her 
name.  The  maiden  grew  up  in  great  beauty,  so  that  the  sons  of  the 
kings  and  mighty  lords  of  Erin  were  wont  to  be  courting  her.  Cumal, 
son  of  Trenmor,  commander  of  the  Fianna  of  Erin,  was  Conn's 
righthand  man.  He  was  also,  like  everyone  else,  asking  for  the 
maiden.  [Tadg,  the  son  of]  Nuada,  gave  him  a  refusal,  for  he  knew 
that  it  was  on  account  of  him  (Cumal)  that  he  would  have  to  leave 
Almu.  The  same  woman  was  mother  to  Cumal  and  to  Conn's  father, 
to  wit,  Feidlimid  Rechtaide. 

Cumal  comes,  however,  and  takes  Murni  in  spite  of  him,  in  elope- 
ment with  him,  since  she  was  not  given  to  him  before.  Tadg  comes  to 
Conn,  and  tells  him  how  he  has  been  outraged  by  Cumal,  and  began  to 
stir  him  up,  and  to  reproach  him.  Conn  sends  word  to  Cumal,  and 
tells  him  to  quit  Erin  or  give  the  girl  back  to  Tadg.  Cumal  said  that 
he  would  not  give  her  ;  that  he  would  give  anj^thing  if  it  was  not  the 
woman.  Conn  sent  his  soldiers,  and  tJigrend,  the  King  of  Lu;agni, 
and  Daire  Derc,  and  his  son  Aed,  who  was  afterwards  called  Goll,  to 
attack  Cumal.  Cumal  musters  his  forces  against  them,  and  the  battle 
of  Cnucha  is  fought  between  them,  and  Cumal  is  slain  in  it,  and  his 
people  are  slaughtered.  Cumal  fell  by  Goll,  the  son  of  Morna. 
Luchet  wounded  Goll  in  the  eye,  so  that  he  destroyed  his  eye,  and 
hence  it  is  that  "  Goll "  (blind  of  one  eye)  attached  to  him.  Goll 
killed  Luchet.  It  is  for  that  reason,  moreover,  that  the  blood  feud 
(fich  bunaid)  was  between  the  sons  of  Morna  and  Finn.  Daire  (Derc) 
had  two  names,  Daire  and  Morna.  Murni  went  after  that  to  Conn, 
since  her  father  rejected  her,  and  did  not  let  her  come  to  him  because 
she  was  pregnant ;  and  he  said  to  his  people  to  burn  her,  and  yet  he 
dare  not  destroy  her  for  fear  of  Conn.^.     The  girl  was  asking  Conn 

^  Ri^damna  means  royal  material,  the  persons  eligible  for  kingship.  Here 
it  probably  means  Tanist,  who  had  a  separate  establishment  at  Kells. 

-^Hennessy  cites  from  L.L. : — "  Ba  bes  itossaig  nach  ingen  dognid  bais  dar 
cenna  urnaidm  do  breothad."  It  was  the  custom  at  first  to  burn  any  woman 
who  did  lust  in  violation  of  her  compact.  This  was  the  law  with  the  Teutons 
also. 

Murni's  father,  in  his  anger,  evidently  thought  that  she  was  a  consenting 
•oarty  to  the  abduction* 


FIKK   MAC   CUMHAIL.  101 

what  she  -would  do.  Said  Conn,  "  Go  to  Fiacal,  the  son  of  Concend,  to 
Temair  Marci,  and  let  thy  delivery  be  there  (for  Cumal's  sister  was 
Fiacal's  wife)."  Connla,  Conn's  gillie,  went  with  her  to  protect  her 
until  they  came  to  Fiacal's  house.  Welcome  was  given  to  her  there, 
and  'twas  a  good  thing  she  came.  She  was  brought  to  bed  there,  and 
boie  a  son,  and  Demni  was  given  as  a  name  to  him.  The  boy  was 
reared  by  them  after,  until  he  was  able  to  spoil  everyone  that  was  a 
foe  to  him.  He  then  proclaimed  battle  or  single  combat  against 
Tadg,  or  that  full  eric  for  his  father  be  given  to  him.  Tadg  said  he 
would  give  him  an  award  (of  judges).  The  award  was  given,  and  this 
is  the  award  that  was  given  to  him,  to  wit,  that  Almu  should  be  ceded 
to  him,  for  ever,  and  Tadg  to  leave  it.  It  was  done  so.  Finn  went 
afterwards  to  Almu,  and  lived  there,  and  the  dun  was  his  home  (arus 
bunaid)  while  he  lived.*. 

Finn  had  another  "  dun "  at  Magh  Ella  (Moyelly),  in  the 
King's  County.'^^ 

After  the  Gailedm  of  Leinster  had  heen  placed  under  tribute 
by  Tuathal,  as  we  have  stated,  the  Eremonians  became  masters 
of  the  province.  The  chief  families  of  Leinster — O'Connor 
Falghi,  O'Cavanagh,  0' Toole,  O'Byrne,  Mac  Gilla  Patrick, 
O'Dun,  O'Dempsey,  O'Dwyer,  O'Ryan,  and  all  the  septs  that 
trace  their  origin  to  them — were  descended  from  Labraid 
Loingseach.  The  O'Nolans  were  descended  from  his  brother 
Cobthach.  All  these  Eremonians  could  not  have  been  intro- 
duced without  displacing  and  ousting  the  old  occupiers  out  of 
most,  if  not  all,  of  their  territory,  and  this  could  not  have  been 
accomplished  without  a  numerous  and  well  organised  militia. 

^  Fotha  Catha  Cnucha,  Castleknock,  near  Dublin  (leb^ji  tia  hvii-o^e,  p.  47) 
Revue  CeJique  II.,  86,  and  translation  by  Hemiessy,  which  we  have  generally 
followed. 

^  There  are  two  hills  in  Kaldare  with  similar  names.  One  is  Kuockaillinn 
(Cnoc  AilleAtin),  so  called,  it  is  supposed,  from  the  ail  or  stone,  which  was 
placed  on  the  mound  of  the  rath.  It  is  five  or  six  miles  south  of  Newbridge,  in 
Kildare ;  is  600  feet  high,  and  on  its  summit  is  the  largest  of  the  Irish  raths. 
The  top  of  the  hill  is  surrounded  by  a  mighty  rampart  of  earth,  400  yards  in 
diameter,  that  encloses  over  twenty  acres.  Some  think  it  was  on  this  hill  that 
Finn's  dun  was  situated.  About  eight  or  nine  miles  north  of  this,  and  five  miles 
north  of  Kildare,  is  another  hill — the  Hill  of  Allen  (Cnoc  AtmAine,  nom.  case, 
ALtiiu  or  ALriiA.  On  this  hiU  there  are  no  traces  of  any  dun  or  rampart,  and 
the  top  is  only  half  an  acre  in  extent,  Both  occur  in  a  line  quoted  by  Four 
Masters,  A  D.,  904.  Iiac  tiomf  a  Cnoc  AtniAine  Aj;«f  AitleAnn  cen  occa — 
Sorrowful  to  me  the  hills  of  Almhuin  (Allen)  and  Ailleann  without  soldiers. 
Russell,  in  his  interesting  article  on  Knock  Aillinn,  suggests  that  the  two  hills, 
Ailhnn  and  Almhuin,  got  confounded  at  an  early  period. — Finn's  "  Dun  "  was 
known  from  far  back  times  as  Almhuin  Eiogha,  lethan,  mor  Laighean^The 
kingly,  great,  broad  Allen  of  Leinster. — Russell,  T.  O.  "  Beauties  and  Antiquities 
of  Ireland."— p.  116. 


102  Early  irish  history. 

It  was  probably  accomplished  gradually  and  on  the  same  con- 
ditions as  the  plantation  of  the  Eremonians  in  Connacht  was 
effected.  The  new  settlers  in  Connacht,  we  are  told  in  the 
Book  of  Rights,  went  under  the  same  rent  or  tribute  that  was 
payable  by  their  predecessors  in  occupation,  and  we  have  seen 
that  Cormac,  after  the  massacre  of  the  maidens  at  Tara,  exacted 
the  "  boroma  "  with  an  increase.^ 

This  militia  was  called  Fiann  or  Fianna,  and  it  was  pro- 
bably by  their  aid  that  Cathaoir  Mor  took  possession  of  Tara  and 
the  High  Kingship.  In  122  B.C.  Cathaoir  was  slain  by  Conn 
and  Crimthann,  the  son  of  Niadcort,  was  placed  by  him  in  the 
chieftaincy  of  Leinster  to  the  exclusion  of  the  line  of  Cathaoir, 
to  which  Baoisgne,  who  then  commanded  the  Fianna,  belonged. 
They  were  called  the  Clanna  Baoisgne.  Cumhal,  the  grandson 
of  Baoisgne,  determined,  at  the  head  of  the  Fianna,  to  restore 
the  race  of  Cathaoir  to  power.  He  formed  an  alliance  with  the 
men  of  Munster  and  gave  battle  to  Conn  at  Cnucha,  where 
he  was  slain  by  Goll  mac  Morna,  commander  of  Fianna  of 
Connacht — the  Clanna  Morna — and  his  army  utterly  routed,  as 
the  tale  relates.  When  Finn  grew  up,  he  also,  like  Baoisgne 
and  Cumhal,  became  commander  of  the  Clanna  Baoisgne,  and 
«'  there  was  strife  and  variance  between  him  and  Cormac." 
They  made  up  their  quarrel,  apparently,  and  Cormac  gave 
Finn  his  daughter  Grainne  in  marriage,  and  the  first  part  of 
his  nuptial  reign  was  peaceful.  War,  however,  soon  broke  out 
between  Finn  and  Grainne.  According  to  the  story  told  in 
an  old  text,  "  When  Finn  went  to  woo  Grainne  she  told  him 
she  would  take  no  bride-price  from  him  but  a  pair  of  every  wild 
animal  in  Erin,  to  be  given  to  her  in  one  drive  until  they  were 
at  the  north  of  Tara."  Caoilte  of  the  Swift  Foot  accomplished 
this.  Grainne  then  married  Finn,  but  retained  her  hatred  of 
him. 

She  had,  however,  already  fixed  her  love  on  Diarmuid 
O'Duibhne,  of  the  curly,  dusky  black  hair,  with  the  love  spot 
(tJAtl  f  eii^ce)  that  no  heart  could  resist.     In  the  gloss  on  the 

^ Book  of  Rights. — "The  Hy  Maine  were  permitterl  by  Duach,  King  of 
Connacht,  to  subdue  the  Firvolce,  who  paid  the  tribute  of  an  enslaved  people. 
The  former,  therefore,  were  obUged  to  pay  the  same  tribute,  though  they  were 
considered  noble  as  being  of  the  race  of  Conn  of  the  Hundred  Battles." — O'D. 
Maini,  chief  of  the  new  Plantation,  was  the  fourth  in  descent  from  CoUa  da  Crioch. 
teAbAtAtiA  ^ceA\\v.—0' Donovan,  p.  106. 


FINN   MAC   CTJMHAIL.  103 

Amra  Columcille  Grainne  is  quoted  as  saying,  referring,  no 
doubt,  to  Diarmuid  : — 

There  is  a  man 
For  a  long  look  from  whom  I  would  be  thankful, 
For  whom  I  would  give  the  whole  world, 
The  whole,  the  whole,  though  it  be  deception.^ 

She  eloped  with  Diarmuid,  and  the  pursuit  of  Diarmuid 
and  Grainne  by  Finn,  is  the  most  famous  and  popular  romance 
in  the  Ossianic  cycle  of  our  literature. 

The  statements  contained  in  Keating  as  to  the  organization 
of  the  Fianna  of  Erin  are  unsupported  by  trustworthy  evidence, 
and  are  in  a  large  part  incredible.  They  were  presumably 
derived  from  romance  writers  of  the  Ossianic  cycle  or  from 
traditions  which  were  probably  derived  from  the  same  source. 
We  find  in  the  Egerton  MS.,  a  volume  of  the  fifteenth  century 
in  the  British  museum,  edited  and  translated  by  S.  H.  O'Grady 
in  the  "  Silva,"  an  enumeration  and  description  of  Finn's  people. 
"  Their  strength  was  130  warriors,  each  having  27  warriors,  every 
one  bound,  as  was  the  way  with  Cuchulainn,  to  conditions 
which  were  that  they  should  not  accept  damages  for  an  insult, 
should  not  refuse  anyone  money  or  food,  and  one  man  should 
not  fly  from  nine  foes." 

No  eric  was  to  be  given  or  taken  where  a  Fennidhe  was 
concerned.  No  man  was  to  be  taken  until  he  was  a  prime  poet, 
versed  in  the  twelve  books  of  poetry !      No  man  was  taken 

®"  Ocuf  5f  Aline  cecinic." 

pit  ■o«itie 

•pt^if  mAx>  buitje  temm  ■oiti'oefc 
AttA  cib]iitTO  in  tribic  n'huiLe, 
n'Vitiite,  n'huile  cix)  -oiubetic 
The  text  edited  by  Dr.  Stokes  gives  the  last  line  thns : — 

"  A  meic  mAiT«e,  C1-0  -oiubetii;,"  which  he  renders  ; 
"  O,  Son  of  Mary,  though  it  be  a  privation." 

We  think  the  "  O  Son  of  Mary,"  is  the  exclamation  of  a  horrified  monk, 
which  crept  from  the  margin  into  the  text.  Grainne  had  not  heard  of  the  "  Son 
of  Mary." 

Dr.  Stokes  renders  •oiubetic,  privation.  It  may  mean  also  deception  or 
fraud.  See  Windisch,  sub-voce.  Some  of  the  texts,  e.g.,  that  given  by  Kuno 
Meyer,  have  «c  xiicii:  gfAinne  ptii  pionn,  instead  of  cecinic.  This  must  mean, 
we  think,  not  said  io  Fionn  as  he  renders  it,  but  against  Fionn.  This  is  the 
oldest  reference  to  Diarmuid  and  Grainne  in  our  texts.  The  oldest  text  of  the 
tale,  according  to  M.  D'Arbois,  is  of  the  date  1736.  The  redaction  of  S.  H. 
O'Grady  ia  partly  from  a  text  of  1780  and  partly  from  one  of  1842-3. 

"Amra  Choluimbchille,"  ed.  W.  Stokes,  Rev.  Celt.,  20  p    156. 


104  EARLY    IRISH    HISTORY. 

until  in  the  ground  a  large  hole  was  made,  and  he  was  put 
into  it  with  a  shield  and  a  forearm  length  of  a  hazel  stick. 
Then  nine  men  at  nine  furrows  distance  were  to  hurl  at  the 
same  time  two  spears  at  him.  If  he  was  wounded  he  was 
rejected  and  so  forth !  The  man  who  had  the  Fianna  with 
him  was  the  seventh  King  of  Erin.  The  privileges  of  Finn 
are  described  in  another  tract  (cited  in  Oss.  Soc.  Trans,  vol.  1, 
p.  43).  He  was  entitled  to  a  cantred  in  every  province,  a  town- 
land  in  every  cantred,  and  a  house  in  every  townland,  and  to 
have  a  hound  reared  in  any  house.  He  was  entitled  to  quar- 
ter the  seven  battalions  on  the  country,  from  Samhaim  to 
Bealtaine  (November  to  May),  and  they  were  to  enjoy  hunt- 
ing and  fishing,  and  to  use  all  ripe  and  edible  fruits  from 
Bealtaine  to  Samhain.  No  one  was  to  dare  to  give  his  daughter 
in  marriage  without  asking  three  times  if  there  was  a  Fennidhe 
ready  to  marry  her,  and  if  there  was  to  him  should  she  be  given. 
No  person  could  take  a  salmon,  a  fawn,  or  any  smaller  game, 
even  if  he  found  them  dead,  unless  one  of  the  Fianna.^*'  These 
are,  as  Nutt  observes,  "  fancy  pictures  traced  by  bards  whose 
vision  of  the  distant  past  was  undisturbed  by  any  real  know- 
ledge." ^^  Keating  gives  the  following  interesting  particulars, 
handed  down  by  tradition  to  his  time  (c.  1644) : — "  During  the 
whole  day,  that  is  from  morning  till  night,  they  ate  but  one 
meal,  of  which  they  were  wont  to  partake  towards  evening. 
About  noon  it  was  their  custom  to  send  whatever  game  they 
had  killed  in  the  morning  by  their  attendants  to  some  ap- 
pointed hill  where  there  should  be  a  convenience  of  wood  and 
moorland.  There  they  used  to  light  immense  fires,  into  which 
they  put  a  large  quantity  of  round  sandstones.  They  next 
dug  two  pits  in  the  yellow  clay  of  the  moor,  and,  having  set 
part  of  the  venison  upon  the  spits  to  be  roasted  before  the  fire, 
they  bound  up  the  remainder  with  su^rc^ws  in  bundles  of  sedge, 
which  they  placed  to  be  cooked  in  one  of  the  pits  they  had 
previously  dug.  There  they  set  round  them  the  stones 
that  had  been  heated  in  the  fire,  and  kept  heaping  them  on 
the  bundles  of  meat  until  they  had  made  them  seethe  freely, 
and  the  meat  had  been  thoroughly  cooked."  In  the  evening 
the  Fianna  used  to  gather  round  the  second  of  the  pits,  "  and 

^°Coi|ii5eAcc  SAT)b  injeAn  eogAin  6^15. — Oss.  Soc,  vol.  i.,  p.  41. 
^^  Ossian  and  the  Ossianic  literature,  p.  35. 


FINN   MAC   CUMHAIL.  105 

there  every  man  stripped  himself  to  his  skin,  tied  his  tunic 

round  his  waist,  and  then  set  to  dressing  his  hair  and  cleansing 

his  limbs.     They  then  began  to  supple  their  thews  and  muscles 

by  gentle  exercise,  loosening  them  by  friction  until  they  had 

relieved  themselves  from  all  sense  of  stiifness  and  fatigue. 

When  they  had  accomplished  this  they  sat  down  and  ate  their 

meal."     Their  beds  were  of  brushwood,  laid  next  to  the  ground, 

over  this  was  laid  moss,  and  fresh  rushes  were  spread  on  top. 

These  were  the  Three  beddings  of  the  Fiann,  "  Tri  Cuillcedha 

na  Fiann."     Every  Fennidhe  took  a  military  oath  on  his  arms 

of  valour  to  the  ri-Feinnedh,  or  commander,  before  whom  was 

borne  to  battle  the  standard  known  as  "  Gal  greine,"  or  sun- 
burst. =^2 

Finn  was  assassinated  by  Aichleach  and  the  sons  of  Uir- 
greann,  of  the  Luigni  of  Tara,  at  Ath  Brea,  on  the  Boyne  where 
he  had  retired  in  his  old  age  to  pass  the  remainder  of  his  life  in 
tranquility.  It  was  by  the  aid  of  the  Luigni,  of  Tara,  that  Conn 
defeated  Cathaoir  Mor,  who  was  supported  by  the  Clanna 
Baoisgne,  and  the  murder  of  Finn  was,  doubtless,  an  incident 
in  the  blood  feud  which  revived  in  all  its  bitterness  when 
Cormac's  daughter  dishonoured  and  betrayed  the  King  of  the 
Fianna.  Finn  left  amongst  other  children  a  daughter  Sam- 
hair,  married  to  Cormac  Cas,  King  of  Munster,  to  whom  she 
bore  Mogh  Corb,  his  successor.  This  union  cemented  an  old 
alliance  between  the  Clanna  Baoisgne  and  the  men  of  Munster. 
Finn  left  also  a  son,  Oisin,  who  succeeded  him  in  the  leader- 
ship of  the  Fianna  of  Leinster.  They  were  in  favour  of  the 
claims  of  the  lineal  descendants  of  Cathaoir  Mor  and  opposed 
to  the  dynasty  reigning  in  that  province.  Cairbre  Liffechair 
becameArd  Righ  in  A.D.  268,  and  supported  the  reigning  King. 
In  271  he  fought  three  battles  against  the  men  of  Munster  in 
defence  of  the  rights  of  Leinster  ;  in  272  he  fought  four  battles 
against  the  men  of  Munster  in  defence  of  the  rights  of  Leinster. 
Cairbre  was  defending  the  rights  of  the  monarch  in  opposition 
to  the  rival  claims  of  the  line  of  Cathaoir  Mor,  aided  by  the 
men  of  Munster. 

In  the  year  after  the  death  of  Finn  (284  A.D.)  the  decisive 
battle  was  fought  at  Gabra  (Gowra),  near  the  hill  of  Skreen, 

^Keating  (O'Mahony),  p.  346,  and  Oss.  Soc.  vols.,  p.  41. 


106  EARLY    IRISH    HISTORY. 

which  is  close  to  Tara.     Oisin  commanded  the  Clanna  Baoisgne, 
and  the  Munster  men  fought  under  their  King,  Mogh  Corb. 
The  allied  forces  took  the  offensive  boldly.     The  attack  was, 
no  doubt,  sudden.     It  was  an  effort  to  succeed  by  surprise,  a 
counter-stroke  in  defensive  warfare,  which,  if  successful,  would 
have  made  them  masters  of  Tara  and  of  the  High  Kingship. 
The  men  of  Erin  were  led  by  Cairbre.       It  was  the  duty  of 
the  High  King  of  the  Gael  not  only  to  command  in  person, 
but  to  fight  in  the  forefront  of  the  battle,  which,  no  doubt,  ex- 
plains why  so  many  Kings  perished  by  the  sword.      He  was 
aided  by  the  Clanna  Morna,   who  were  commanded  by  Aed 
Caem,  the  son  oi  Garaidh  Glunduff,  the  son  of  Goll  Mac  Morna, 
and  the  last  Firvolcic  King  of  Connact.     According  to  one 
account,  Cairbre  and  Oscar,  the  son  of  Oisin,  met  in  single 
combat,  fighting  on  horseback,  and  Oscar  fell  to  the  spear  oi 
Cairbre,  who,  in  turn,  received  from  Oscar  a  mortal  wound 
from  which  he  soon  expired.     Another  version  is  that,  return- 
ing victorious  and  wounded  after  the  fight  with  Oscar,  he  was 
set  on  by  Simeon,   one  of  the  Fotharthaigh,  who  had  been 
expelled  into  Leinster,  and  despatched  with  a  single  blow. 
The  carnage  on  both  sides  was  terrible.     Before  the   monarch 
fell,  a  poem  in  the  Book  of  Leinster  says,  the  dead  were  more 
numerous  than  the  living  on  the  field  ;  and  in  after  times, 
poetic  tradition  had  it  that  Oisin  and  Caoilte  alone  survived 
of  the  famous  Fianna  of  Leinster,  and  lived  until  the  coming 
of  St.  Patrick.     He  met  them  in  their  old  age,  and  his  conver- 
sation with  them,  the  Agallamh  na  Senorach   [The  Talk  with 
the  Old   Men]   is  the   longest  and  most  interesting  tale  in 
the  Ossianic  Cycle.^^ 

^  Irische  Texte,  III,  141,  and  Silva  Gaedelica. 


[    107    ] 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

GLASTONBURY   OF   THE  GAEL. 

AFTER  the  battle  of  Gabhra  (284),  the  most  important  event 
was  the  invasion  of  Ulster  by  the  three  CoUas.  Three 
hundred  years  had  now  elapsed  since  the  Tain,  and  durinsf 
that  time  the  power  of  the  Clanna  Rury  had  been  declining, 
and  the  hour  was  now  approaching  when  they  would  be  obliged 
to  fight,  not  for  conquest,  but  for  defending  their  capital. 

Cairbre  Liffechair  had  two  sons,  Fiacha  Sraibtaine  and 
Eocaid  Doimhlen.  Fiacha  succeeded  him,  but  whether  he 
was  the  elder  son  or  not  we  cannot  say.  Eocaid  Doimhlen 
left  three  sons,  CoUa  Uais  the  Noble,  Colla  Meann  the  Stam- 
merer, and  Colla  da  Crioch.  After  Fiacha  had  held  the 
sovereignty  for  thirty-seven  years,  the  CoUas  rose  in  rebellion 
against  him,  and  slew  him  at  the  battle  of  Dubhcomar,  near 
bhe  confluence  of  the  Boyne  and  the  Blackwater  (322  A.D.) 
Colla  Uais  then  became  High  King,  and  reigned  four  years, 
when  he  was  dethroned  and  expelled  from  the  Kingdom  into 
Alba,  by  Tireach,  the  son  of  Fiacha  Sraibtaine,  who  then  as- 
cended the  throne ;  shortly  afterwards  Muiredach  and  his 
cousins  made  up  their  quarrel,  and  the  Collas  returned  from  Alba. 
A  large  army  was  mustered  for  the  invasion  of  Ulster,  com- 
posed of  the  forces  of  the  High  King,  of  the  King  of  Connacht, 
and  of  a  body  of  soldiers  from  Alba.  A  fierce  battle  was  fought 
(332  A.D.)  at  Carn-acha-leath-dheirg,  near  Carrickmacross,  in 
Farney,  and  the  three  Collas,  having  routed  the  men  of  Ulster, 
"  seized  Emania  and  burned  it,  and  the  Ulstermen  did  not 
dwell  there  since."  Fergus  Fogha,  the  King,  was  slain,  and 
the  Clanna  Rury  driven  eastward  into  little  Ulster — Ulidia, 
the  present  counties  of  Down  and  Antrim.  The  western 
boundary  of  Little  Ulster  was  the  course  of  the  Lower  Bann, 
Lough  Neagh,  and  Gleann  Righe,  now  the  valley  of  the  Newry 
River.  Through  this  valley  the  Ulidians  constructed  a  great 
rampart,  now  commonly  called  the  "  Dane's  Cast."  It  extends 
from  Lisgoole,  near  Scarva,  in  Down,  to  near  Meigh  and  Slieve 


108  EARLY   IRISH   HISTORY. 

Gullion,  in  Armagh,  a  distance,  as  the  "Cast"  runs,  of  over 
twenty  miles.  This  earthwork,  which  consisted  of  a  fosse  or 
ditch,  and  a  rampart  on  either  side,  was  not  in  one  continuous 
line,  but  in  separate  sections,  that  stretched  from 
one  sheet  of  water,  or  one  morass,  to  another,  and  may  be 
roughly  described  as  running  parallel  to  the  Newry  Canal 
and  the  Great  Northern  Railway  in  that  place.  The  line 
of  the  fosse  and  rampart  can  still  be  traced  at  various  points 
for  the  whole  distance.  "  At  one  point  the  fosse  is  still  eight 
feet  deep,  the  width  from  top  to  top  of  the  ramparts  is  forty 
feet,  and  the  height  of  the  rampart,  above  the  level  of  the 
field,  is  four  feet,  and  the  width  from  out  to  out  of  the  ram- 
parts is  fifty-four  feet."  It  was  supported  by  numerous  forts 
or  raths  on  the  east  side.  At  the  southern  end  the  rampart 
trended  to  the  east.  Here,  at  Fathom,  there  was  a  strong 
rath  or  fort,  which,  with  the  earthwork,  commanded  the  passes 
from  the  South,  the  pass  at  Forkhill,  and  the  famous  Moyry 
Pass.  These  are  the  passes  which  in  olden  times  were  defended 
by  Cuchulainn.  The  northern  end  was  defended  by  an  equally 
strons:  fort  at  Lisnagoole.^ 

The  territory  of  the  Collas  is  said  to  have  once  extended 
in  the  northern  part  of  Ulster,  from  the  Bann  to  Donegal,  but 
the  portion  eifectively  occupied  was  comprised  in  Armagh, 
Monaghan,  and  Louth,  and  was  afterwards  known  as  Oriel 
(OipsiAllA). 

This  wall  appears  to  have  been  a  very  effective  defensive 
work.  Muiredach  did  not  attempt  to  force  the  southern  passes. 
He  fell  in  battle,  fighting  against  the  Ulidians,  at  Port  Righe, 
which  was,  probably,  the  ancient  name  of  Benburb,  on  the 
Biackwater.  He  was  killed,  says  Tighernach,  by  Caelbhadh, 
King  of  Ulad,  chief  of  the  Clannii  Rury.  Some  say  Caelbhadh 
marched  to  Tara  after  his  victory,  and  was  saluted  as  King. 
Tighernach,  however,  does  not  acknowledge  him,  or  others  who 
are  supposed  to  hava  enjoyed  short  reigns,  to  have  been  High 
King  at  all.  But  his  having  been  partially  acknowledged 
as  such  has  its  meaning  in  our  history,  it  tells  of  a  vigorous 
eftbrt  made  by  the  Irians  to  recover  the  territory  from  which 


1  A  detailed  account  of  the  "  Great  Wail  of  Ulidia,"  or  "  Dane's  Cast,"  with  fi 
Map,  is  given  in  the  Ulster  Journal  of  Archseoiogy,  vol.  III.,  pp.  20  and  66. 


GLASTONBURY   OF   THE   GAEL.  109 

by  Muiredach's  aid  they  had  recently  been  expelled  by  the 
three  Collas.  The  year  after  his  victory  at  Port  Righe, 
Caelbhadh  was  slain  by  Eocaid  Muighmheadhon  (Mweevaon), 
the  son  of  Muiredach.  Eocaid  was  King  of  Connacht  at  that 
time,  and  then  reigned  at  Tara  for  eight  years.  He  married 
Mong  Finn  (of  the  fair  hair),  daughter  of  Fidach,  as  his  "  one 
wife."  She  was  sixth  in  descent  from  Oilioll  Olum,  King  of 
Munster,  and  bore  him  four  sons,  who  introduce  us  as  it  were 
into  modern  history.  They  obtained  the  sovereignty  of  Con- 
nacht, and  from  them  the  Kings  and  chiefs  of  that  province 
descended.  Brian,  the  eldest,  who  is  said  to  have  left  twenty- 
four  sons,  was  the  ancestor  of  Hy  Briuin,  of  Connacht,  who  are 
not  to  be  confounded  with  the  O'Briens  of  Thomond,  who 
were  Eberians  of  the  family  of  Brian  Boru,  the  son  of  Kennedy. 
The  Hy  Briuin  included  the  O'Connors  of  Connacht ;  the 
O'Rourkes  of  Breffney  ;  the  O'Reillys  of  Cavan ;  The  MacDer- 
mots,  MacDonoughs,  and  O'Flaherties. 

The  second  son  was  Fiachra,  who  occupied  one  territory  in 
the  north  of  Connacht  by  the  River  Moy,  now  known  as  Tir- 
reragh  (Uif  ■piActi}u\),  and  another  territory  in  the  south  of 
Connacht,  comprised  within  the  present  diocese  of  Kilmac- 
duagh.  It  was  known  as  Hy  Fiachrach  Aidhne.  The 
Northern  branch  included  the  powerful  Clan  of  the  O'Dowdas. 
The  Southern  branch  included  the  Ui  Clerigh  and  the  Ui  Edhin 
(O'Heine)  descended  from  Glereach-,  Chieftain  of  the  Ui  Fiach- 
rach of  Aidhne,  who  was  seventh  in  descent  from  Guairi  Aidhne, 
King  of  Connacht ;  the  Kilkellies ;  and  it  included  also  the 
O'Shaughnessys.  The  third  son  was  Fergus,  about  whom  we 
do  not  find  anything  to  mention.  The  fourth  son  was  Oilioll 
from  whom  Tirerill  in  Sligo  is  named.  In  this  way  the  occu- 
pation of  Connacht  by  the  line  of  Eremon,  supplemented  as  it 
was  somewhat  later  on,  as  we  have  mentioned,  by  the  intro- 
duction of  the  descendants  of  Colla  da  Crioch  into  Hy  Many, 
was  completely  effected.  The  most  famous  of  the  sons  of  Eocaid 
was  not  born  in  lawful  wedlock.  Niall  of  the  Nine  Hostao-es 
Eocaid's     fifth    son,    was    born    to    him    from     Carinna,     a 

2  Clereach  had  two  sons,  Maolfabhail,  chieftain  of  Aidhne,    c.  887,  the  elder 
from  whom  are  the  Ui   Cleinj,  and  Edhin,  the  second  son,  from  whom  the  Ui 
Edhin  descend.     Edhin' s  daughter,  Mor,  was  the  first  wife  of  Brian  Boru,  to  whom 
she  bore  Murchadd,  Concobar,  and  Fian,  who  were  slain  at  Clontarf  — O'Donovan 
"  Hy  Fiachrach,"  392,  398. 


110  EARLY   IRISH   HISTORY. 

Saxon,  during  the  lifetime  of  Mong    Finn,  his  "one  wife." 
She  was  probably  a  captive,  the  aditionelle,  of  the  Ard  Righ,  as 
we  have  already  stated,  and  may  have  been  of  noble  birth, 
like  the  ancilla  of  Xanthias  the  Phocean.     Polygamy  was  not 
known  to  the  Gael.     We  are  unable  to  accept  the  views  of  Dr. 
Stokes,^  who  says  :  "  But  polygamy  existed,  and  hence,  Patrick, 
like  St.  Paul,  requires  for  the  bishopric  of  Leinster  a  husband 
of  one  wife  (fir  oen  setche)."     This,  of  course,  refers  not  to  two 
wives  at  the  same  time,  but  to  a  man  taking  a  second  wife 
after  the  death  of  his  first  wife.     Such  a  man  was  ineligible 
for  episcopal  orders.     The  injunction  that  the  "twain"  shall 
be  one  flesh  was  rigorously  applied  in  the  case  of  orders,  and 
a  man  contracting  a  second  marriage  was  regarded  as  carry- 
ing part  of  the  flesh  of  his  first  wife  into  the  second  nuptials, 
and  was  classed  as  a  "  bigamist."     It  was  for  this  reason  that  in 
our  statute  a  man  "  that  hath  married  two  wives  or  one  widow  " 
was  excluded  from  the  benefit  of  the  clergy,  as  this  privilege 
was  originally  confined  to  persons  who  being  in  the  minor 
might  proceed  to  the   higher  orders  of  deacon,  priest  and 
bishop. 

It  would,  however,  be  a  mistake  to  suppose  that  such  a 
connection  as  Carinna's  was  regarded  as  mere  concubinage,  ex- 
cept by  the  lawful  wife.*  There  was  no  distinction  made 
between  the  children  whom  we  should  classify  as  illegitimate 
and  the  legitimate  children  as  regards  inheritance  and  suc- 
cession, and  Niall  became  in  fact  Ard  High  at  Tara,  and  the 
ancestor  of  nearly  all  the  High  Kings  of  Erin  down  to  the 
time  of  Brian  Boru.  Some  thought  that  Carinna  should  be 
called  a  Briton  rather  than  a  Saxon.  O'FIaherty  refers  to 
this,  and  says  : — 

Those  who  considered  that  the  Saxons  had  not  then  come  to  Britain 
think  Carinna  should  be  called  a  Briton  instead  of  a  Saxon  in  the 
old  muniments,  relying  on  the  hypothesis  that  she  was  sprung  from 
Britain,  which  the  Saxons  afterwards  settled  in.  But  there  is  ample 
testimony  that  the  Saxons  about  this  very  time,  in  conjunction  with 
the  Picts  and  the  Scots,  made  many  raids  into  Britain  long  before  they 
had  established  fixed  settlements  there. 

*  Trip.  Life,  clxviii. 

«  Stephen,  Criminal  Law,  I.  461— Sir  FitzJames  Stephen  calls  it  a  strange  rule. 
He  was  evidently  not  aware  that  bigamists  as  above  defined,  were  ineligible  for  holy 
orders. 


GLASTONBURY    OF   THE    GAEL.  Ill 

He  refers  to  Ammianus  Marcellinus,  and  quotes  lines  from 
Claudian  contained  in  the  following  passage,  wliicli  refers  to 
Theodosius  the  elder,  the  grandfather  of  the  Emperor  Honorius. 
In  3G7  A.D.  Theodosius  the  elder  had  repelled  an  invasion  or 
inroad  of  the  Picts  and  Scots,  who  had  penetrated  as  far  as 
the  city,  "which  was  anciently  called  London,  but  is  now 
known  as  Augusta."  The  passage  is  contained  in  the  pane- 
gyric on  the  4th  Consulship  of  Honorius,  written  in  A.D. 
898:— 

Ille  (i.e.,  Theodosius)  Caledoniis  posuit  qui  castra  pruinia 
Qui  medios  Libyse  sub  casside  pertulit  sestus 
Terribilis  Mauro,  debellatorque  Britanni 
Litoris,  ac  pariter  Borese  vastator  et  Austi*!. 
Quid  rigor  aeternus  coeli,  quid  sidera  prosunt 
Ignotumque  f return  ?     Maduerunt  Saxone  fuso 
Orcades  :  incaluit  Pictorum  sanguine  Thule 
Scotorum  cumulos  flevit  glaeialis  lerna.*^ 

— De  Quart  Consul  Honor  26-33. 

As  there  is  a  conflict  of  modern  opinion  about  Carinna,  and 
as  the  details  we  are  about  to  give  are  useful  in  other  ways, 
we  shall  examine  this  point  more  fully.  We  have  not  found 
it  stated  in  any  text  before  Keating  that  Carinna  Cas-dubh 
was  a  daughter  of  the  King  of  Britain.  O'Curry  says  she  was 
a  Scottish  Princess  (M.  &  C.  ii.,  147),  and  Atkinson,  in  the 
preface  to  the  Book  of  Leinster,  refers  to  her  as  a  "  Captive 
Scottish  Princess."     The  evidence  before  Keating,  on  the  other 

5 "He  (i.e.,  Theodosius)  pitched  his  camp  amid  Caledonian  hoar  frosts,  and, 
wearing  the  helmet,  endured  the  heats  of  Central  Africa.  A  terror  to  the  Mauri, 
he  crushed  the  foe  on  the  British  shore,  and  spread  devastation  north  and  south 
alike.  What  unchanging  extremes  of  climate,  what  season  of  the  year  was  of  use  ? 
What  profited  seas  unknown  ?  The  Saxons  were  routed,  and  the  Orkneys  were 
dripping  [with  gore].  Thule  [probably  here  the  Shetlauds]  was  warm  with  the 
blood  of  the  Picts.     Icy  Erin  wept  for  the  heaps  (of  slain)." 

Glaeialis  lerne,  icy  Erne  should  probably  be  understood,  as  the  context 
suggests,  as  the  Hebrides,  of  which  Ptolemy  specifies  two,  which  he  attaches  to 
Erin  in  his  2nd  chapter.  Claudian,  a  native  of  Egypt,  probably  of  Alexandria,  who 
had  received  the  education  of  a  Greek,  as  Gibbon  tells  us,  no  doubt  took  his 
geography  from  Ptolemy,  and  balanced  the  heat  of  Central  Africa  with  the  glacial 
rigours  of  the  north. 

This  view  is,  we  think,  sustained  by  the  following  lines  in  the  same  passage : — 

"  Scotumque  vago  mucrone  sequutus 
Fregit  hyperboreas  remis  audacibus  undas." 

"  And  pursuing  the  Scot  with  the  Sword  everywhere  (vago)  ivith  daring  oars  he 
broke  through  the  Hyperborean  waves."  "  Vago  "  must  mean,  we  fancy,  chasing 
them  through  the  islands. 

De  Tert  Consul  Honorii  55.     Ogygia,  p.  377. 


112  EARLY   IRISH    HISTORY. 

hand,  is  very  persuasive.  Tighernach  not  only  declares  his 
own  view  that  she  was  of  Saxon  origin,  but  vouches  in  proof 
an  old  duau  : — 

Nial  Mor,  the  son  of  the  Saxon, 
Cairne  her  name  as  I  have  collected, 
Five  sons  of  Eocaid  Muigmeadhoin, 
Not  trifling  is  what  I  have  certified.* 

In  the  Book  of  Ballymote  (365a)  and  in  the  Yellow  Book 
of  Lecan  (188a)  and  in  Kawlinson  (502b)  it  is  expressly  stated 
that  Carinna  was  a  Saxon.^  The  last  mentioned  text  states — 
"  Carinna  Cas-dubh,  daughter  of  Sachal  Bolb  of  the  Saxons, 
was  the  mother  of  Niall."  Later  references  to  texts  contain- 
ing a  similar  statement  will  be  found  in  S.  H.  O'Grady's  "  Silva 
Gaedelica,"  in  the  tale  "  Echtra  MacEchac  Muigmedoin/' 
and  in  ii.  493. 

It  is  permissible  to  suggest  that  there  may  be  some  con- 
founding of  Carinna  with  Ciarnait,  the  daughter  of  the  Pictish 
chieftain,  who  was  brought  against  her  will  by  three  Ulster 
men  into  captivity.  She  was  the  loveliest  of  women,  and 
Cormac  Mac  Art  sent  to  demand  her,  and  she  was  taken  to 
his  house.  She  was  with  him  in  amorous  fellowship,  and  the 
measure  of  his  love  for  her  was  great.  Then  Ethne  Ollamda, 
the  daughter  of  Cathaoir  Mor,  his  "  one  wife,"  heard  of  her 
being  with  him.  She  said  they  could  not  be  with  him  to- 
gether. Cormac  was  obliged  to  give  Ciarnait  into  the  power 
of  Ethne,  who  put  a  slave's  task  upon  her,  putting  her  to 
grind  corn,  to  wit,  to  grind  nine  or  ten  bushels  of  corn  with 
a  quern  every  day.  Cormac  sent  for  a  millwright  across  the 
sea,  and  had  a  mill  made  to  save  Ciarnait.^  So  in  the  "  Echtra '' 
it  is  stated  that  Carinna  was  an  object  of  spite  to  the  queen 
(Mongfinn)  and  treated  with  great  harshness  by  her,  and  this 
was  the  harshness — that  she  should  pull  up  from  the  well 
half  the  water  for  Tara,  and  afterwards,  when  she  became 
enceinte,  the  whole  of  it.  Her  position  was  that  of  a  bond- 
maid.    These  stories,  if  true,  go  a  long  way  to  prove,  in  the 

6  Rev.  Celt.,  xvii,  32.     The  next  entry  in  Tighernach  is  "Patricius  captivus  in 
Hibeniiam  ductus  est." 
''  Otia  Mersiana  ii.,  84. 
*  Egerton  1782,  edited  and  translated  by  Kuno  Meyer,  Otia  Mersiana  ii.,  75. 


GLASTONBURY   OF   THE   GAEL.  118 

absence  of  direct  evidence  to  the  contrary,  that  there  was  no 
recognized  legal  polygamy  in  pre-Christian  Erin.'-^ 

After  a  reign  of  eight  years,  Eocaid  died  a  natural  death 
at  Tara.  He  was  succeeded  by  Mong  Finn's  brother,  Crimthann, 
the  son  of  Fidach,  of  the  line  of  Eber,  sixth  in  descent  from 
Olioll  Olum.  No  information  has  reached  us  as  to  how  or 
why  he  came  to  be  High  King.  The  only  suggestion  we  can 
offer  is  that  the  sons  of  Eocaid  were  too  young,  and  that  he 
was  chosen  as  a  regent  under  the  title  of  King.  He  was  not 
King  or  Tanist  of  both  or  either  of  the  Munsters,  nor  did  he 
come  in  by  force  of  arms.  Certain  it  is  that  no  one  of  the  line 
of  Eber  became  High  King  from  his  reign  till  the  year  1002 
(Brian  Boru) ;  and  no  one  of  the  line  of  Eber  had  been  High 
King  for  32  reigns  before,  since  the  time  of  Duach  Dalta  Degaid 
(162  B.C.).  It  is  also  highly  probable  that  Crimthann  shared 
in  the  expeditions  which  took  place  before  his  accession  in 
A.D.  366.  These  expeditions,  as  well  as  those  of  Niall  and 
Dathi,  form  so  important  and  interesting  part  of  our  story,  that 
we  deem  it  necessary  to  deal  with  the  subject  at  some 
length. 

In  the  first  half  of  the  fourth  century,  after  the  abdication 
of  Diocletian,  the  Roman  Empire  was  rent  by  civil  dissensions. 
Candidates  for  the  imperial  purple  sprang  up  in  every  quarter, 
and  in  the  course  of  these  contests  Britain  was  denuded  of 
imperial  troops.  This  was  the  opportunity  of  the  Picts,  the 
Scots,  the  Attacotti,  and  the  Saxons.  Ammianus  Marcellinus, 
"an  old  soldier  and  a  Greek,"  as  he  tells  us,  "who  never 
deceived  by  silence  or  misrepresentation,"  wrote  his  history 
probably  between  the  years  380  and  390.  He  was,  therefore, 
the  contemporary  of  Crimthann.     He  writes : 


A.D.  360. — The  affairs  of  Britain  became  troubled  in  consequence 
of  the  incursions  of  the  Picts  and  Scots,  who,  breaking  the  peace  ^"  to 
which  they  had  agreed,  were  plundering  the  districts  on  their  borders, 
and  keeping  in  constant  alarm  the  provinces  (i.e.,  of  Britain),  exhausted 

^  It  is  a  curious  circumstance  that  Cariuna,  the  mother  of  Niall,  from  whom 
descended  a  long  line  of  Kings  of  Erin  should  be  a  Saxon,  whilst  Arietta,  the 
mother  of  William  the  Conqueror,  from  whom  descended  a  long  line  of  English 
Kings,  was,  in  all  probability,  an  Ethnic  Celt  of  Brittany  or  iSTormandy. 

1"  "  Rupta  quiete  condicta."  This  implies  previous  hostilities. — Amm.  Marcel. 
XX.  cap.  i. 


114  EARLY    IRISH   HISTORY. 

by  former  disasters.  Caesar  (i.e.,  Julian  the  Apostate),  who  was  winter- 
ing at  Paris,  having  his  mind  divided  by  various  cares,  feared  to  go  bo 
the  aid  of  his  subjects  across  the  Channel  (as  we  have  related  Coustans 
to  have  done)  least  he  should  leave  the  Gauls  without  a  governor,"  while 
the  Allmanni  were  still  full  of  fierce  warlike  inclinations. 

A.D.    364. — The    Picts,  Scots,  Saxons,    and  Attaootti  harassed  the 
Britains  with  incessant  invasions. 

A.D.  368. — Valentinian  (the  Emperor)  having  left  Amiens,  and  being 
on  his  way  to  Treves,  then  the  capital  of  the  Western  Prefecture,  re- 
ceived the  disastrous  intelligence  that  Britain  was  reduced  by  the 
ravages  of  the  united  barbarians  to  the  lowest  extremity  of  distress, 
that  Nectarides,  the  Count  of  the  sea  coast,  had  been  slain  in  battle,  and 
that  the  Duke  Fullofandes  had  been  taken  prisoner  by  the  enemy  in 
an  ambuscade.  Jovinus  applied  for  the  aid  of  a  powerful  army.  Last 
of  all,  on  account  of  the  many  formidable  reports,  Theodosius  (the  Elder) 
was  appointed  to  proceed  to  Britain,  and  ordered  to  make  great  haste. 
At  that  time  the  Picts,  the  Attacotti,  a  very  warlike  people,  and  the 
Scots  were  all  roving  over  different  parts  of  the  country,  and  commit 
ting  great  ravages. 

We  shall  return  to  this  subject  when  we  have  carried  our 
narrative  down  to  the  coming  of  St.  Patrick. 

It  is  said  that  Crimthann  was  poisoned  by  his  sister  Mong 
Finn.  The  story  is  told  in  the  Leabhar  Breac.  Crimthann 
went  to  Scotland.  In  his  absence  his  nephews  and  Niall 
rose  in  rebellion  and  seized  the  sovereignty.  He  returned 
with  a  large  force  of  Scots,  and  pitched  his  camp  near  the 
river  Moy,  in  Tirawley.  Mong  Finn  pretended  to  be  a  peace- 
maker, and  invited  Crimthann  to  a  feast  to  meet  her  sons  at 
a  place  near  the  Moy. 

When  they  had  made  an  end  of  the  entertainment,  Mong  Finn  put 
into  her  brother's  hand  a  poisoned  cup.  "  I  will  not  drink,"  he  said, 
"  until  thou  first  shall  have  drunk."  She  drank,  and  Crimthann  after 
her.     Subsequently  she  died  on  Samhain's  very  eve  (the  eve  of  the 

banquet) Now  came  Crimthann  from  the  northward, 

progressing  towards  his  o^vn  natural  country  (that  of  the  men  of  Muns- 
ter)* until  he  gained  Sliabh  Suide  in  Righ,  or  the  Mountain  of  the  King's 
Sitting,  and  there  he  died.  Fidach,  his  father,  his  mother,  and  his  nurse, 
came  to  the  spot  where  he  perished.  There  they  gave  way  to  piteous 
grief,  and  all  three  died  on  the  very  spot. 

If  the  case  was  no  stronger  than  this  against  her,  Mong 
Finn  is  entitled  to  our  verdict  of  acquittal,  and  we  shall  have 
the  less  hesitation  in  giving  it,  as  the  use  of  poison  is  unknown 

11  Julian  was  proclaimed  Emperor  at  Paris  in  the  year  360  A.i>.  He  died  or 
the  26th  June,  363. 


GLASTONBURY   OF   THE   GAEL.  115 

in  Irisli  history  until  the  coming  of  the  Angevin.  It  is  more 
reasonable,  we  think,  to  suppose  that  the  High  Kingship  of 
Crimthann  did  not  displace  the  hegemony  of  the  Eremonians, 
and  that  he  was  originally  chosen  by  them  owing  to  his  per- 
sonal fitness,  and  through  the  influence  of  Mong  Finn,  to  hold 
the  Kingship  until  one  of  the  sons  of  Eocaid  Muigmedoin 
should  be  fit  to  take  it.  The  rebellion,  if  it  can  be  called  such, 
occurred  thirteen  years  after  the  death  of  Eocaid,  when  Niall 
was  of  age  and  fit  to  rule,  and  was  headed  by  him,  and  he 
became  High  King  with  the  assent  of  his  half-brothers,  whom 
he  befriended.^^ 

The  tradition  that  has  reached  us  respecting  the  death  of 
Niall,  is  that  he  was  slain  by  Eocaid,  the  son  of  Enna 
Censelach,  King  of  Leinster,  on  the  banks  of  the  Loire,  near 
the  Muir  n'Icht.  The  accounts  given  in  the  Yellow  Book  of 
Lecan,  the  Book  of  Ballymote,  and  in  the  Eawlinson  M.S.,  are 
substantially  the  same.  The  latter  is  edited  and  translated  by 
Kuno  Meyer.  Niall  was,  doubtless,  regarded  as  the  High  King, 
not  only  of  the  Gael  in  Erin,  but  also  of  the  "  sea  divided  " 
Gael  wherever  situate,  and  in  claiming  for  him  the  lordship  of 
the  western  world  (Ri-iarthar  domhain)  they  had,  no  doubt,  in 
view  the  Gaelic  settlements  in  Wales,  in  Cornwall,  and  in 
Armorica.  The  Gaelic  conception  of  monarchy  was  tribal,  not 
territorial.  On  his  visit  to  Armagh,  Brian  Boru  was  described 
in  the  entry  then  made  in  the  book  of  Armagh  as  "  Imperator 
Scotorum  "  ;  and  it  was  not  unnatural  that  the  expedition  into 
foreign  parts  from  which  captives  and  booty  were  brought  back 
in  large  quantities  should  be  magnified  into  conquests.  One  of 
these  captives,  as  we  shall  see  in  our  next  chapter,  may  have 
been  the  Apostle  of  Erin,  in  after  time  to  be  associated  with  saints 
of  Gaelic  birth,  St.  Columba  and  St.  Bridget,  as  the  three 
patron  saints  of  Ireland.  Eocaid,  the  son  of  Censelach,  had 
been  driven  into  exile  by  Niall.  The  tale  in  Rawlinson  is 
headed  "  The  Slaying  of  Niall  of  the  Nine  Hostages,  son  of 
Echu  Mugmedon,  by  the  hand  of  Echu,  son  of  Enna  Censelach, 
who  sent  an  arrow  at  him  out  of  a  Saxon  camp  among  the 
bards  of  the  Pict  folk  at  Cam  Fiell." 


12  Book  of  Ballvmote  263,  c.  21,  Silva    Gaedelica,  Vol,  L  330,  Vol.   II. 
373. 


116  .  EARLY   IRISH  HISTORY. 

After  stating  the  cause  of  the  quarrel  between  Niail  and 
Echu,  the  tale  proceeds  :— 

Niall,  however,  went  to  obtain  kingship  as  far  as  Letha  {i.e.,  Brit- 
tany or  Latium)  and  Italy,  and  he  was  called  "  of  the  Nine  Hostages  " 
because  he  had  five  hostages  of  Ex'in,  and  one  hostage  each  from  Scot- 
land and  from  the  Saxons,  the  Briton's  and  the  Franks.  Now  when 
they  came  to  the  Alps  there  was  a  great  river  before  them,  to  wit  the 
Loire  of  the  Alps  {i.e.,  the  Massif  Central).  Echu  was  then  with  Ere, 
the  son  of  the  King  of  Alba,  an  ally  of  Niall's,  and  Ere  said  he  would 
go  to  the  assembly  where  Niall  was.  "  I  shall  go  with  you,"  said  Echu. 
When  they  had  arrived  Ere  said,  '*  That  is  he  yonder."  There  was  a  glen 
between  them.  Without  the  knowledge  of  Ere,  Echu  shot  an  arrow 
from  the  bow  and  Niall  fell  dead  from  that  single  shot.  Thereupon 
the  Franks  attacked  the  Gael,  and  the  men  of  Alba  stood  by  the  latter 
for  the  sake  of  their  kinship  (ar  connalbus).  So  they  came  to  Erin 
carrying  the  body  of  their  king  with  them,  and  seven  battles  were  broken 
before  the  face  of  the  dead  king.  It  was  Torna,  the  poet  of  the  Ciar- 
raighe  Luachra,  who  had  fostered  Niall.  Now,  when  he  heard  the 
report  that  his  foster-father  had  been  slain,  'tis  then  Niall's  foster- 
brother,  Tuirm,^^  said : — 

"  When  "  we  used  to  go  to  the  gathering  with  the  son  of  Echu 
Mugmedon,  3  ellow  as  the  bright  primrose  was  the  hair  on  the  head  of 
Cairenn's  son. 

Torna. 
**  His  white  teeth,  his  red  lips  that  never  reprimanded  in  anger." 

TUIRM. 

**  Saxons  will  seek  out  here  in  the  east  noble  men  of  Erin  and  Alba 
after  the  death  of  Niall,  Echu's  noble  son.  It  is  a  bitter  cause  of 
reproach." 

Torna. 

"  Saxons  with  flooding  war  cries,  with  bands  of  Lombards  f  i-om 
Letha.  From  the  hour  the  king  fell  the  Gael  and  the  Picfcs  were  in 
evil  plight."^* 

Torna  says  nothing  of  assassination.  The  Cairenn  above 
mentioned  as  the  mother  of  Niall  is  stated  in  Rawlinson  to  be 

^  The  accounts  vary  very  much.  Toma's  dirge,  which  is  ascribed  by  Kuno 
Meyer  to  800  A.D.,  says  nothing  about  assassination.  Ere,  above  mentioned,  died 
in  A.D.  474,  nearly  seventy  years  after  the  death  of  Niall.  If  there  was  assassination 
we  should  expect  to  find  that  the  assassin  was  cut  down  on  the  spot.  Cinaed 
O'Hartigan  (  +  975)  says  Echu  drove  his  speai-  through  him  before  the  hosts. 

"Fischrift  Whitley  Stokes, — Toltemklage  um  Konig  Niall  (Kuno  Meyer), 
p.  3  (1890). 


GLASTONBURY   OF  THE   GAEL.  Il7 

='the    daughter  of  Scael  Dubh   of  the  Saxons,"  as  already 

stated. 

Niall  was  succeeded  by  Dathi,  the  son  of  his  half  brother, 
Fiacra.  According  to  the  Book  of  Lecan,  Dathi  was  the  fifth 
and  youngest  son,  and  was  at  the  time  king  of  Connacht,  and 
the  last  Pagan  king  of  that  province.  After  fighting  many 
battles  in  Erin  and  Alba  "  Dathi  afterwards  went  with  the 
men  of  Erin  to  Leatha  (i.e.,  Letavia  or  Brittany)  until  he 
reached  the  Alps,  to  revenge  the  death  of  Niall." 

There  was  a  tower  on  the  Alps  build  by  Formenius  (unknown 
to  history),  king  of  Thrace,  in  which  he  was  making  his  soul 
at  the  end  of  his  days.  It  was  a  round  tower  made  of  sods  and 
stones,  sixty  feet  high.  The  men  of  Erin  demolished  the 
tower,  and  at  the  prayer  of  the  recluse  a  flash  of  lightning  came 
from  Heaven  and  killed  the  Pagan  monarch.  His  body  was 
brought  to  Cruachan,  in  Roscommon,  six  miles  from  Carrick- 
on-Shannon,  and  buried  in  the  Relig  na  Riogh  (cemetery  of 
the  kings),  where  to  this  day  a  red  pillar-stone  remains  as  a 
monument  over  his  grave.  His  reign  lasted  twenty-three 
years,  and  he  was  succeeded  in  A.D.  428  by  Laeghaire,  the  son 
of  Niall,  in  the  fourth  year  of  whose  reign  St.  Patrick  came  to 
Erin  to  preach  the  Gospel. 

We  shall  now  return  to  the  subject  of  the  Gaelic  settlements 
in  South-west  Britain,  reserving  for  a  future  page  their  settle- 
ments in  North  Britain,  and  directing  our  attention  for  the 
present  particularly  to  Arthur  and  Glastonbury  of  the  Gael 
We  have  already  given  the  duan  in  which  the  bard  with 
poetic  exaggeration  describes  the  conquests  of  Crimthann. 

"  Moreover,"  says  Ammianus,  "  the  Franks  and  the  Saxons  were  com- 
mitting outrages  on  the  districts  which  meared  with  themselves  where- 
ever  they  could  break  in  by  sea  or  land,  plundering  cruelly,  and  burning 
and  killing  their  captives,  Theodosius  marched  from  Augusta,  which 
was  formerly  called  Lundinium,^'  attacked  the  bands  of  plunderers  and 
routed  them,  whilst  driving  prisoners  in  chains  (vincti)  and  cattle  before 
them,  and  he  entirely  restored  the  cities  and  the  fortresses,  which, 
through  the  manifold,  disasters  of  the  time,  had  been  injured  and  des- 
troyed, having  been  originally  founded  to  secure  the  tranquillity  of  the 
country.     He  established  stations  and  out-posts  or.  the  frontiers,  and  he 


^8  Ab  Augusta  profectus  quam  veteres  appellavere  Lundium — Ammianus, 
Kviii.  p.  '6. 


118  EARLY    IRISH   HISTORY. 

SO  completely  recovered  the  province  which  had  yielded  subjection  to  the 
enemy,  that  it  was  again  brought  under  its  legitimate  rule,  and  by  de- 
sire of  the  Emperor  called  Valentia."  ^ 

The  province  here  referred  to  must  be  understood  to  mean 
the  province  up  to  Hadrian's  wall.  The  wall  between  the  Forth 
and  the  Clyde,  made  by  Antoninus  Pius,  was  abandoned  or 
lost  before  the  end  of  the  2nd  century.  The  poetic  and  courtly 
exaggerations  of  Claudian,  excusable  perhaps  in  a  panegyric, 
must  not  be  taken  too  seriously.  They  are  equalled,  in  fact 
surpassed,  by  what  we  find  in  the  Gaelic  Bards.  "  It  was 
this  Crimthann,"  says  Keating,  "  gained  victories,  and  ex- 
tended his  sway  over  Alba,  Britain  and  Gaul,  as  the  Shanachie 
tells  us  in  the  foUowinsr  rann : — 


"O 


Crimthann,  son  of  Fidach,  ruled, 
The  Alban  and  the  Irish  lands, 
Be3'ond  the  clear  blue  seas  he  quelled, 
The  British  and  the  Gallic  might." 

To  the  like  purport  and  effect  is  the  entry  in  Cor  mac's 
Glossary : — 

"  Mug  Eime — that  is  the  name  of  the  first  lap-dog  that  was  in  Erin. 
Cairbre  Muse,  the  son  of  Conaire,  brought  it  from  the  east  from  Britain  ; 
for  when  great  was  the  power  of  the  Gael  in  Britain,  they  divided  Alba 
between  them  into  districts,  and  each  knew  the  residence  of  his  friend, 
and  not  less  did  the  Gael  dwell  on  the  east  side  of  the  sea  than  in  Scotia 
(i.e.  Erin),  and  their  habitations  and  royal  forts  were  built  there.  There  is 
(a  fort)  called  Dun  Tradui,  i.e.,  Triple  fossed  fort  of  Crimthann,  the 
great  son  of  Fidach,  King  of  Erin  and  Alba,  to  the  Ichtian  Sea,  and 
there  is  Glastonbury  of  the  Gael,  i.e. ,  a  church  on  the  border  of  the 
Ichtian  Sea,  and  it  is  on  that  part  is  Dinn  map  Laethain,  in  the  lands 
of  the  Cornish  Britons,  i.e.,  the  Fort  of  MacLentham,  for  mac  is  the 
same  as  map  in  the  British.  Thus  every  tribe  divided  on  that  side,  for 
its  property  on  the  east  was  equal  to  that  on  the  west,  and  they  con- 
tinued in  this  province  till  long  after  the  coming  of  Patrick." 

1"  Picti  in  duas  genfees  divisi  Dicalydonas  et  Verturiones,  itidemque  Attacotti 
bellicosa  hominum  natio  et  Scotti  per  diversa  vagantes  multa  populabantur,  Galli- 
canos  [vero]  tractus  Franci  &  Saxones  idem  confines  quoquisque  erumpere  potuit 
terra  vel  niari  prsediis  ascerbis  incendiisque  et  captivoram  funeribus  hominum 
violabant. — Amm.  Marcel.,  xxvii.,  cap.  8,  xziviii.,  cap.  3  and  8. 

The  Attacotti  here  mentioned  were,  as  already  referred  to  (C.  I.)  no  doubt 
tribesmen  of  those  seen  by  St.  Jerome,  in  Treves,  during  the  residence  of  Valen- 
tinian.  The  Notilia  Imperii  mentions  four  bodies  of  Attacotti  stationed  in  Graul. 
St.  Jerome's  visit  and  residence  in  Treves  are  commonly  assigned  to  the  time  of 
Valentinian,  and  the  Attacotti  may  have  enlisted  under  the  Imperial  Eagles  after 
the  victories  of  Theodosius  the  elder. 


GLASTONrURT  oF   THE   GAEL.  Il9 

Hence  Cairbre  Muse  was  visiting  in  the  East  his  family  and 
friends."  "  Alba  "  here  applies  to  Southern,  though  more  fre- 
quently applied  to  Northern  Britain.  Both  are  called,  as  we 
have  seen,  the  land  of  the  "  Albiones  "  by  Avienus.^^  The 
Ichtian  sea,  as  understood  at  the  time  we  speak  of,  was  the 
sea  between  France  and  England,  and  more  particularly  the 
parts  near  the  Loire  and  the  south  coast  of  England  and  Erin, 
which,  i.e.,  Erin,  was  supposed  to  lie  to  the  S.S.  West  of  Britain, 
towards  Spain  and  France,  and  the  position  of  Spain  was  shifted 
correspondingly.  There  was  an  island,  Ictis,  off  the  coast  of 
Britain,  from  which  tin  was  brou^^jht  in  ingots  on  waggons 
when  the  tide  was  out,  as  Diodorus  Siculus  tells  us  (V.  229  2). 

ei^  riva  vijaoy  irpoKEtjiivriv  rfjc  wpeTrariKFje  vvofxaXofitprfv  de  'iktiv — 
Diodor,  V.  22,  2. 

This  island  is  reasonably  supposed  to  be  Mount  St.  Michael, 
off  Cornwall.^^  There  was  another  Ictis  to  which  vessels  bound 
inward  brought  cargoes  of  tin  from  Britain,  in  wicker  boats 
covered  with  hides,  in  a  voyage  of  six  days.  This  Ictis,  we 
are  of  opinion,  was  situated  in  the  estuary  of  the  Loire,  and  the 
tin  was  then  carried  on  pack-horses,  a  journey  of  thirty  days, 
not  to  the  confluence  of  the  Saone  and  Loire,  as  Mr.  Elton 
supposed,  but  to  the  outfall  of  the  Rhone,  i.e.  Marseilles  at  the 
Bouches  de  Rhone.^'^ 

[Trpdc  T)]i'  EK^o^riv  tov  polavov  vorafiov'^ 

This  is  accounted  for  by  what  Strabo  tells  us — that  the 
Rhone  was  not  navigable  up-stream  owing  to  the  force  and 
velocity  of  the  current,  so  that  the  traffic  went  by  land  and  not 
by  the  river.  Thus  the  pack-horses  or  mules  were  not  unloaded 
at  the  Rhone  and  the  tin  put  on  board  a  boat,  but  the  animals 
went  on  to  Marseilles  to  have  a  load  going  back.  The  island 
in  the  estuary  of  the  Loire  can  no  longer  be  identified,  but  the 
coast  here  has  undergone  remarkable  changes,  and,  assuming 
we  are  right  in  our  conjecture  that  it  once  existed,  there  is  no 

"  Sanas  Cormac  and  translation,  Stokes,  sub  voce, 

"  Holder,  Sprachschatz,  sub  voce,  Albion. 

^'  St.  Michael's  Mount  is  a  granite  hill,  230  feet  high,  and  ahout  one  mile  in 
Circait  at  its  base,  2  miles  distant  from  Penzance  by  water.  It  is  an  island  for 
eight  hours  out  of  the  twenty  four,  and  at  spring  tides  for  much  longer ;  and  in 
rough  weather  the  rough  causeway  which  now  connects  it  v-i'tb  the  shore  is  under 
water  for  days  together. 

20  Origins  of  English  History,  35. 


120  EARLY   IRISH   HISTORY. 

difficulty  in  believing  that  it  is  now  well  inland  as  part  of  the 
adjoining  continent.  The  voyage  between  the  islands  was 
through  the  Ichtian  sea  called  in  Gaelic  the  Muir  n'Icht. — 
Roughly  speaking,  the  channel  of  the  sea,  at  the  south  of 
England  and  the  south  of  Ireland  were,  from  the  time  of  Caesar 
and  Tacitus  and  Pliny,  conceived  of  as  one  continuous  channel 
bearing  S.S.W.  to  Spain.^^ 

There  was  another  island,  from  which  amber  was  brought, 
in  the  German  Ocean — Oser  icta,  which  seems  to  suggest  that 
icta  or  ictis  or  ruictis  was  a  word  applicable  to  islands  of  a  par- 
ticular character,  possibly  like  St.  Michael's  Mount.  The  mean- 
ing of  the  word  ictis,  however,  has  not  hitherto  been  traced  or 
ascertained.  We  suggest  the  Gaelic  iuchd  or  iuc  as  a  probable 
root.  Carmichael  tells  us  it  means  a  nook,  angle,  or  recess. 
" There  is  a  Rock  in  Benderloch,"  he  writes,  "called  Greag 
neucht,  evidently  a  corruption  of  '  Creag  an  iucht  — '  the 
Rock  of  Knaugh  or  recess.'  "  So  inis  an  iuchd  would  mean 
the  island  of  the  recess,  and  Muir  n'Icht  the  sea  of  the  recess 
or  channel,  as  opposed  to  what  is  called  the  great  plain  of  the 
Sea  (trix^s  fleiti).22 

The  statements  contained  in  Cormac's  glossary  are,  to  a 
large  extent,  confirmed  bv  what  is  known  of  the  Gaelic  occu- 
pation  of  Wales.  This  subject  has  been  exhaustively  examined 
in  a  treatise  by  Bishop  Basil  Jones.  He  claims,  and  we  think 
on  sufficient  grounds,  that  the  Gael  were  in  occupation  of 
Anglesey,  Carnarvon,  Monmouth  and  Cardiganshire,  with  a 
portion  at  least  of  Denbigh,  Montgomery  and  Radnor,  and 
with  minor  settlements  in  South  Wales,  until  the  accession  of 
Caswallawn  Low  Her  (443,  517).  In  various  parts  of  Wales 
the  word  Gwyddel  (Gael)  enters  into  the  composition  of  local 
names.  He  enumerates  iiS  instances  ;  and  there  are  numerous 
references  to  the  Gael  in  the  traditions  of  the  Cymri  who 
claimed  to  be  the  earliest  inhabitant  of  Wales.     They  complain 


^  Timaeus  historicus  a  Britannia  introrsum  sex  dierum  navigatio  abesse  dicit, 
insulam  Mictim  (i.e.,  Iclim)  in  qua  candidum  plumbum  proveniat ;  ad  earn  Britaunos 
ritilibus  navigiis  cmio  circumsutis  navigare. — Pliny  N.  H.,  4,  104.  This  is  our  view 
of  this  vexata  questio,  the  position  of  Ictis,  and  the  Ichtian  Sea,  which  is  of  impor- 
tance with  reference  to  the  death  of  Niall  and  otherwise. 

Desjardins  "  Geographie  Historique  de  Gaule  Eomaine." 

82  Pliny  "  Nat.  Hist."  xxxviii.  c.  2.     Carmina  Gaedelica,  II.  294. 


GLASTONBURY   OF   THE   GAEL.  121 

of  invasions  of  their  territory  time  and  again  by  the  Gael  from 
Erin.23 

"  What  is  trite  is  that  a  certain  Irish  clan  did  invade  and  occupy 
Brecknoc  and  Carmarthen,  as  well  as  Pembrokeshire  and  that  about  530 
they  were  driven  out  of  the  two  first  counties,  and  that  they  then  in- 
vaded and  occupied  North  East  Cornwall  from  Padslow  Harbour  and 
the  North  of  Devon  as  far  as  Exmoor.  This  was  not  by  any  means  a 
first  descent.  The  whole  coast  had  been  a  prey  to  invasions  from 
Ireland  for  two  centuries.  So  early  as  461  the  British  settlers  at  the 
mouth  of  the  Loire  were  numerous  enough  to  have  a  Bishop  of  their 
own  who  attended  the  Council  of  Tours,  and  in  468  they  sent  12,000 
men  under  their  King  Riothemus  to  the  assistance  of  the  Romans 
against  th«  Visigoths."  ^ 


*t5" 


"  Glastonbury  of  the  Gael,  on  the  border  of  the  Ichtian  sea." 
What  foundatian  is  there  for  this  statement  ?  We  have 
given  much  attention  to  this  question,  and  shall  now  place 
before  our  readers  as  briefly  as  may  be  the  fruits  of  our  labour. 
The  site  of  the  famous  Abbey  is  situated  in  Mid  Somerset 
about  six  miles  south  of  Wells.  In  early  times  the  moorlands 
in  Mid  Somerset,  and  particularly  those  surrounding  Glaston- 
bury, were  covered  by  large  tracts  of  shallow  water  and  exten- 
sive areas  of  marsh.  The  more  elevated  parts  appeared  like 
islands,  of  which  the  site  of  the  Abbey  was  the  principal.  A 
river  flowed  westwards  through  this  area  round  the  island 
"surrounded  on  both  sides  by  what  was  in  early  times  an  im- 
passable morass  or  rather  lagoon.  Overflowed  by  the  sea  at 
every  high  tide,  it  was  connected  on  the  east  side  by  an 
isthmus,  of  but  slight  elevation  above  the  surrounding  moor, 
with  the  higher  ground,  and  presented  the  appearance  of  a 
peninsula."  -^  One  mile  to  the  north  a  cranoge  or  village 
habitation  was  discovered  in  1892,  covering  three  acres,  the 
site  of  which,  though  15  miles  from  the  sea,  is  only  18  feet 
above  the  sea  level.  ^ 

At  the  point  where  the  isthmus  reaches  the  elevated  land, 
the  remains  of  earthworks  are  found  indicating  that  a  great 

22  Vestiges  of  the  Gael  in  Gwynnedd  (North  Wales),  1851,— p.  38,  30. 

^  Gould,  S.  Baring,  1S99,  aided  amongst  others,  by  Mr.  J.  D.  Enys  whose 
knowledge  of  things  Cornish  is  encyclopsedic.  See  also  "  Devon,  1899  "  by  the 
same  author. — Book  of  the  West,  Cornwall,  p.  4,  7. 

^  Proc.  Somerset  Archl.  Soc.  Vol.  VIII.  (1869),  p.  140,  an  interesting  paper, 
"  British  Cattle  Stations,"  by  the  Rev  F.  Wane,  whose  local  knowledge  places 
these  facts  beyond  dispute. 


122  EAELY   IRISH   HISTORY. 

dun  or  vallum  was  made  there  to  defend  the  pass  to  what,  it 
is  suggested,  was  a  "  cattle  station,"  or  as  the  Gael  would  call 
it  a  "  Clithar  Bo  "  on  the  island. 

Rhys  refers  to  Glastonbury  as  an  unidentified  fort  of  the 
Cornish  Britons,  or  as  he  calls  them  Brythons.  "  The  name," 
he  says,  "  so  far  as  we  know,  is  completely  lost  in  the  dialects 
of  the  Brythons,  and  it  is  probable  that  they  were  not  the 
races  that  gave  it  to  the  island ;  it  is  more  likely  that  they 
learned  it  from  the  Gael  whom  they  found  in  possession.  It 
need  hardly  be  added  that  its  meaning  is  utterly  unknown,  in 
spite  of  guesses  both  new  and  old  ;  probably  the  word  is  not 
Celtic."  2^  We  venture  to  think  that  there  is  not  much  diffi- 
culty in  finding  a  Gaelic  origin  for  the  name. 

The  Latin  form  of  the  name  is  Glastonia — with  a  variant 
Glasconia.  The  Anglo  Saxon,  coming  afterwards,  is  Glastingia, 
or,  more  frequently,  Glastingabyrg.  The  Abbey  was  usually 
called  in  later  English  Glaston  Abbey.  We  suggest  that 
Glastonia  is  the  Gaelic  glas  donn,  that  is  brown  river,  or  from 
inis  glaia  duinn — island  of  the  brown  river,  which,  no  doubt, 
represented  correctly  enough  the  water  of  the  sluggish  or 
stagnant  Brue.  The  Anglo  Saxon  Glastingbyrg  or  Glas- 
tingabyrg refers  to  the  town,  and  is  easily  accounted  for  by 
the  introduction  into  glais  dAiinn  of  the  familiar  "  iyig,"  as 
Huntandun  became  Huntingdon,  Aehhandan  became  Abing- 
don, etc.  The  Cymric  name,  "  Ynysvitrin,"  is  clearly  inis 
vitria  (the  "  glass  "  island)  by  a  false  etymology,^' 

On  this  island  of  the  brown  river  at  an  early  period  was 
built  a  small  walled  church,  sixty  feet  long  and  twenty-six 
feet  broad,  with  a  window  in  the  east  front  and  three  windows 
at  each  side,  and  roofed  with  thatch.  When  we  come  to  the 
time  of  Ina  it  was  known  as  the  old  church — the  Ecclesia 
Vetusta — in  fact,  the  oldest  in  Britain.     It  was  held  in  great 

*6Early  Britain,  202. 

2'  Glaise,  or  glais,  or  glas,  signifyin;!  a  small  stream  or  rivnlst,  is  very  often 
nsed  to  give  names  to  streams  and  thence  to  townlands,  e.g.,  Finnglas,  fair  stream ; 
Glasawhee  (5lAr  t)uix)e),  yellow  stream,  and  Dub  glas,  black  stream. — Anglice, 
Douglas.— Joyce,  "  Names  of  Places,"  2nd  Ed.,  440.  Glas,  water.— "The  word  is 
now  rare  in  its  simple  form,  but  is  common  in  compounds,  as  Douglas,  and  Glasdrum, 
from  glas  and  druim,  a  ridge,  etc.— Carmichael,  Carm.  Gael,  ii.,  2S7.  In  the  Char- 
ters of  Ine  the  name  is  variously  given.  Glastingaburga  (5G),  Glastingaea  (58), 
Glasteie  and  Glastingae  (80),  Glastingbiu-i  (89).  Kemble,  "  Codex  Diplom,"  Vol. 
II.  The  pure  Latin  is  always  Glastonia  and  Glastoniensis.  Warner's  well-kno^yn 
work  is  entitled  t;ie  "  History  of  the  Abbey  of  Glaston  and  of  the  town  of 
Glastonbui-y  (1826)." 


GLASTONBURY   OF   THE   GAEL.  123 

veneration,  and  legends  were  put  in  circulation,  in  Benedictine 
times,  about  its  origin.  It  was  said  that  it  was  founded  by 
Joseph  of  Arimathea,  who  had  buried  the  Lord.  There  is 
no  doubt  that  there  was  an  Lcdesia  in  existence  in  the  time 
of  Pauliuus,  Archbishop  of  York  (625-644),  and  that  he  had  it 
"cased  with  boards  and  covered  with  lead  from  top  to 
bottom." 

We  have  now  nearly  reached  a  period  when  we  can  refer  to 
the  evidence  of  charters,  the  authenticity  of  which  is  generally 
accepted.  Some  writings  of  an  earlier  date,  including  a  letter 
from  St.  Patrick,  are  now  universally  rejected  as  forgeries. 

We  refer  only  to  the  charters  which  are  printed  in 
Kemble's  "  Codex  Diplomaticus,"  the  authenticity  of  which 
is  not  now  questioned  by  any  competent  critic,  commencing 
from  the  time  of  Ine  or  Ina,  King  of  the  West  Saxons  ( +  .728), 
who  built  a  great  church  east  of  the  venerated  old  church  in 
710  A.D.,  and  generously  endowed  the  monastery,  by  the  advice 
of  Aldhelm,  Bishop  of  Sherborne,  in  Dorset.  Ina  was  of  the 
race  of  Cedric,  the  first  King  of  the  West  Saxons,  and  it  was 
in  the  struggle  against  these  invaders  that  Arthur  was  chosen 
the  champion  of  the  Britons. 

The  year  516  A.D.  is  the  date  generally  received  as  that 
on  which  he  was  chosen  "  over  many  men  nobler  than  himself, 
as  commander  of  the  army  of  defence."  He  was  chieftain 
probably  of  the  people  called  Domnonia,  or  Devoneans,  who 
were  then  the  predomniant  race  in  what  are  now  Somerset, 
Devon,  and  Cornwall.  His  famous  authentic  victory  of  Mons 
Badonicus  may  probably  be  placed  at  Badbury,  in  Dorset,  and 
assigned  to  about  the  year  520.  His  opponent  was  Cedric, 
who  had  landed  at  the  mouth  of  the  Itchen,  in  496,  and 
defeated  Natanleod  near  Netley  in  508.  The  advance  of  the 
Saxons  was  stopped  for  a  time  by  the  victory  at  Badbury. 
It  was  not  until  Cawlin  (593)  that  they  reached  the  Axe, 
nor  until  Ceanwealh  (672),  that  they  reached  the  Parret  in 
Somerset.-^ 

Domnonia,  which  is  the  Latinised  form  of  the  name  of  the 
then  inhabitants  of  Devonshire,  represents  the  Gaelic  Domnann 
who  were,  as  we  have  seen,  a  Firvolc  race,  remnants  of  which 

28  These  dates  must  be  received  with  reserve. — See  Stevenson's  Eng.  Hist 
Kev.  (l'J02,  625). 


124  EARLY   IRISH   HISTORY. 

were  found  in  Irras  Domnann,  in  Mayo,  and  Inver  Domnann, 
now  Malahide  Bay.-^    The  Domnonii  were  a  terrible  "  tribe ; 
scorners  of   death,  and  formidable  to  the  foemen,  like  the 
Clanna  Morna  in  Erin."^^     Civil  dissension  having  broken  out 
amongst  them,  "  as  if  there  was  no  foe  at  their  gates/'  says 
Gildas,  Arthur's  nephew,  Mordred,  rose  up  against  him,  and  a 
fierce  battle  was  fought  at  Camion,  which  was  probably  in 
Cornwall,  in  which  Arthur  was  slain,  or,  according  to  some 
authors,  only  mortally  wounded.     He  was  taken  to  Glaston 
Abbey,  of  which  he  had  been  a  liberal  benefactor,  and  his 
body  was  interred  there,  where  it  was  discovered  with  the 
body  of  his  wife  in  after  years,  as  we  shall  relate.     It  was  fit- 
ting that  Arthur,  whom  we  claim  as  a  Gael,  should  have  his 
place  of  resurrection,  to  use  the  usual  Gaelic  phrase,  in  Glaston- 
bury of  the  Gael.^^     That  the  vetusta  ecclesia  there  was  the 
Church  of  St.  Patrick,  is  proved  indisputably  by  two  charters. 
— "  I,  King  Ina,"  one  (704  A.D.  ?)  states,  "  bestow  this  freedom 
on  the  monks  who,  in  the  Church  of  the  Blessed  Virgin  a7id 
Blessed  Patrick,  serve  Almighty  God  under  Abbot  Hemgislus, 
in  the  ancient  town  called  Glastingaea,  and  place  this  worth 
and   privilege  on  the   altar."      Details  of  the  freedom  and 
privilege  are  then  set  forth.      This  charter  is  subscribed  by 
Aldhelm. 

In  681,  Baldred,  King  of  Mercia,  with  the  consent  of  his 
bishop,  Heddo,  granted  to  Hemgislus,  abbot  (of  Glaston),  as 


29  The  pronunciation  of  Dom-nann  in  Gaelic  would  be  DhuT-o-uann,  i.e..  the 
aspirated  "  tri "  might  be  pronounced  like  "  v  "  and  a  short  vowel  introduced  be- 
tween the  "  m  "  and  the  "  n  "  for  euphony,  according  to  the  usual  rule.  Dom- 
nann would  thus  be  nearly  equivalent  to  Dev-o-non,  from  which  the  transition  to 
Devon  is  easy.  In  this  way  Daiminnis  (the  Ox's  Isle)  became  Devinish,  and  many 
other  instances  might  be  cited. 

i»jA.ldhelm  (t.  709)  wrote  :— 

Sicut  pridem  pepigerem 
Quando  profectus  fueram 
Usque  diram  Domnoniart 
Per  carentem  Carnubiam 
.  Florulentis  cespitibus 

Et  fecundis  graminibus. 

— Jaffe  Monnm,  Moguntiae,  38. 

Cornwall  was  in  the  old  diocese  of  Dumnonia,  now  merged  in  Exeter. 

*i  There  are  multitudinous  views  about  everything  connected  with  Arthur — 
His  very  existence  is  doubted.  We  have  stated  what  we  believe  to  be  probable, 
and,  in  the  words  of  Caxton,  "  But  for  to  give  faith  to  all  that  be  herein,  ye  be  at 
your  own  liberty." — Preface  to  Sir  T  Malory. 


GLASTONBURY    OF   THE   GAEL.  125 

an  addition  for  the  honoured  Church  of  the  Blessed  Virgin  and 
St.  Patrick  (ecclesiae  beatse  Mariae  et  Sancti  Fatricii),  the 
lands  of  Somerset. ^'^ 

In  both  the  charters  the  old  church  is  recognized  as  being 
dedicated  to  the  Blessed  Virgin,  and  under  the  patronage  of 
and  belonging  to  St.  Patrick,  the  only  difference  between  them 
being  that  in  the  iirst  he  is  styled  a  Saint,  in  the  second  only 
blessed.  After  this  the  rule  of  St.  Benedict  appears  to  have 
been  at  least  partially  established,  and  the  advisers  of  the 
Saxon  Kings  were  Benedictines.  In  the  charter  of  725,  Ina 
bestowed  on  the  monastery  the  ''  worth  of  privilege  that  the 
brothers  shall  have  the  power  of  electing  and  appointing  a 
rector,  according  to  the  rule  of  St.  Benedict."  The  condum 
neum  was  established,  and  followed  of  course  in  due  time  by 
the  ouster  of  the  Gael.^ 

In  this  great  charter  Ina  grants  various  denominations  of 
lands,  and  confirms  the  donation  made  by  his  predecessors  to  the 
old  church  consecrated  to  God  and  the  Blessed  Virgin.  The  name 
of  St.  Patrick  is  wholly  omitted.  It  states — "  The  old  church 
t^iostri  Jesu  Christi  et  perpetuae  Virginis  Marice,  as  it  is  the 
first  in  Britain  and  fountain  and  source  of  all  religion,  should 
receive  a  pre-eminent  worth  of  privilege,  &c.,  and  should  hold 
its  lands  free  from  the  exactions  of  Kings  and  the  promul- 
gations and  perturbations  of  archbishops  and  bishops."^*  The 
lands  granted  and  confirmed  by  Ina  include  a  parcel  called 
"Boek  Ereie,"  which  is  frequently  mentioned  afterwards,  in 
grants  or  otherwise,  with  the  addition  little  Hibernia  (i.e., 
parva  Hibernia).  Boek  Ereie  is,  of  course,  tjeg  Gpiu,  little 
Erin,  and  there  was  a  famous  islet  of  that  name  in  Wexford 
Harbour,  over  which  St.  Ibhar  was  abbot  in  the  time  of  St. 
Patrick.     It  is  still  known  as  Begery. 

Joannes  Glastoniensis  (flor.  1400),  who  wrote  the  history 
of  Glastonbury,  tells  that  there  was,  down  to  his  time,  an 

^EgoIniKex.  .  .  .  banc  libertatem  monachis  qui  in  ecclesia  beatae  dei 
genetricis,  Mai-iaj  et  beati  Patricii  omnipoteuti  deo,  sub  abbati  Hemgislo  famulan- 
tur  in  pristina  ui'be  qute  dicitur  Glastingaea,  impendo  et  banc  privilegii,  dig-nitatem 
super  altare  pono  ut,  &c.— Kemble,  Codex  Diplom.,  I.,  58.,  and  I.,  25. 

"3  Hanc  privilegii  dignitatem  concessit  ut  babeant  fratres,  ejusdem  loci  potes- 

tatem  elegendi  et  constituendi  sibi  rectoreni  juxta  regulam  Sancti  Beuedicti. 

"  Cod.  Dip."  I.,  86.  All  tbese  cbarters  escaped  the  notice  of  Abbott  Gasquet  in 
bis  "  Last  Abbott  of  Glastonbui-y." 

""Codex  Diplom.,"'  L,  87. 


126  EARLY    IRISH   HISTORY. 

ancient  chapel  in  honour  of  St.  Brigid  on  the  island  of  beag 
Erin,  He  also  mentions  the  ornamentation  on  the  tomb  of 
St.  Patrick.  The  tradition  of  the  displacement  of  the  Gaelic 
monks  is  thus  referred  to  by  Camden,  and  other  authors  say- 
that  St.  Dunstan  actually  brought  monks  from  Italy  in  their 
stead.^ 

"  In  these  early  ages  men  of  exemplary  piety  devoted  themselves 
here  to  God,  especially  the  Irish,  who  were  maintained  at  the  king's 
expense,  and  instructed  youth  in  religion  and  the  liberal  sciences. 
They  had  embraced  solitude  to  apply  themselves  with  more  leisure  to 
the  study  of  the  Scri23tures,  and  by  a  severe  course  of  life  accustom 
themselves  to  bear  the  cross.  At  length,  Dunstan,  a  man  of  domineer- 
ing (subactus  1)  and  crafty  temperament,  by  underhand  acts  and 
flatteries  wormed  himself  into  an  intimacy  with  the  Kings,  and  intro- 
duced in  their  stead  the  monks  of  a  newer  order,  namely,  of  St. 
Benedict."  3« 

We  are  not  concerned  here  to  discuss  who  the  saint  or 
blessed  Patrick  referred  to  was,  whether  he  was  our  apostle  as 
the  tradition  there  had  it,  or  another  saint  known  as  Sen 
Patrick,  as  our  texts  state.  Our  object  is  to  show  that  the 
monastery  was  Gaelic.  St.  Patrick's  "  muinter  "  would,  un- 
doubtedly, have  considered  him  their  first  abbot  wherever 
their  habitation  might  be  placed,  and,  at  Glaston, 
Benignus  was  regarded  as  the  second  abbot.  This,  however, 
would  not  exclude  the  view  that  there  was  a  Sen  Patrick,  who 
was  abbot  in  loco  there,  who  was  buried  there,  and  whose  tomb 
was  lavishly  ornamented  and  greatly  venerated  in  after  time. 
John  of  Glastonbury  maintained  that  our  apostle  was  buried 
there,  and  that  it  was  the  "  other  "  St.  Patrick  that  was  buried 

^  Sed  jam  capella  ejusdem  insula  constat  in  honore  Sanctae  Brigidse  prae- 
dictte  in  cujus  parte  australi  foramen  liabetur  per  quod  qui  transierit  juxta  vulgi 
opinionem  oninium  peccatorum  suorum  veniam  obtinebit. — P.  69. 

Corpus  suum  (i.e.,  Patricii)  in  pyramide  saxea  fuit  collocatum  juxta  altare 
versus  austrum  quam  pro  veneratioue  ejusdem  Sancti  postea  auro  et  argento  vesti- 
vit  nobiliter  domesticorxim  diligentia^ — Joannes  Glaston,  p.  67. 

^*  Primis  his  temporibus  viri  sanctissimi  hie  Deo  invigilai-ant  et  prajcipue  Hiber- 
nici  qui  stipendiis  regiis  alebantur  et  adolesceutes  pietate,  artibusque  ingenuis  in- 
struebant  Solitariam  euim  vitam  amplexi  sunt  ut  majore,  cnm  tranquillitate  sacris 
litei'is  vacarent  et  severo  vitae  geuere  ad  crucem  perfereudam  se  exercereut.  Sed 
tandem  Dunstanus,  subacto*  et  versuto  ingcnio  homo  quum,  mails  artibus  et  blan- 
ditiis  in  prLncipum  consuetudinem  se  peultus  immerslsset,  pro  his  recentioris  iusti- 
tuti  Mouachos  scilicet  Benedictinos  induxit. 

*  Subactus,  as  an  adjective,  we  have  not  met  elsev>'here.     Du  Gauge  has  Sabac- 
tus  (noun)  =  Dominium.     Perhaps  the  word  should  be  "  Subacuto  " — sly  or  subt-le. 
Camden,  Britannia,  p.  158. 


GLASTONBURY   OF   THE   GAEL.  127 

in    Downpatrick.       Our    texts    state    or   imply   exactly  the 
reverse. 

The  finding  of  the  body  of  Arthur  may  now  claim  our 
attention.  The  best  account  of  this  is  to  be  found  in  Leland's 
Assertio  Arturii.  He  visited  Glaston  Abbey  in  the  time  of 
the  last  abbot,  Whiting  (1525-1539),  who  was  "  perfect  for  him," 
and  whom  he  styles  the  whitest  of  the  white,  and  his  proven 
friend  {homo  sane  candidissimus  et  amicus  'mens  singularis)P 
He  singles  out  two  authorities  as  of  primary  importance — an 
anonymous  monk  of  Glaston  Abbey,  whose  name  was  unknown 
to  him,  the  other  Cambrensis  Giraldus.  Both  say  that  Henry  II., 
who  kept  the  Abbey  in  his  own  hands  after  the  death  of  Henry 
de  Blois,  Bishop  of  Winchester,  having  heard  the  tradition 
that  Arthur  was  buried  between  two  pyramids  near  the  old 
church,  ordered  the  remains  to  be  exhumed,  and  placed  in 
the  new  church  before  the  high  altar.  Those  pyramids  were 
26  and  18  feet  high  respectively.  The  taller  had  five  courses 
or  stories  (tabulatus),  on  the  topmost  of  which  was  a  figure 
like  a  bishop  [imago  pontificali  schemate] ;  in  the  second  a 
figure  conducting  a  royal  procession,  and  the  words.  Hex  Sexi. 
Blisiuerth.  In  the  third  course  were  the  words,  Wivicreste,  Ban- 
tomp,Weneivegn.  The  other  pyramid  had  four  courses.  There 
were  words  on  those  and  the  remaining  courses  of  the  taller 
pyramids  such  as  those  we  have  mentioned.  No  mention  was 
made  of  Arthur  or  Guinevere  in  these  inscriptions,  but  the  tradi- 
tion was  that  the  pyramids  were  erected  in  his  memory,  or,  as 
we  venture  to  suggest,  one  for  the  king  and  the  other  for  the 
queen,  but  that  no  mention  was  made  of  them  in  the  inscrip- 
tions, as  it  was  desired  to  keep  the  place  of  his  burial  secret : 
"  He  was  buried  deep  down  for  fear  of  the  Saxons,"  wrote  the 
monk.  The  words  may  have  been  cryptic,  or  put  on  the 
pyramids  with  the  object  of  misleading.  On  digging  down 
between  the  pyramids  the  searchers  came  on  a,  broad  stone 


^  Leland's  Collectanea,  t.  50. 

Whiting  refused  to  surrender  Glaston  Abhey  and  its  possessions  to  Henry 
VIII.  In  1539.  the  "  remembrance  "  of  Cromwell  directed  "  the  Abbot  of  Glaston 
to  be  tried  at  Glaston,  and  executed  there  with  his  complycys."  We  are  not  con- 
cerned here  with  the  judicial  forms  used  to  cover  the  "  taking  off  of  heads  "  at  this 
time.  He  was  hanged,  drawn,  and  quartered  on  Tor  Hill,  of  the  Abbey,  on  Friday, 
November  14,  1539.'  The  Blessed  Richard  Whiting  was  beatified  in  1896.  The 
value  of  the  possessions  of  the  Abbey  is  variously  estimated,  but,  probably, amounted 
to  ^100,000  a  year  of  our  money. 


128  EAULY    IRISH   HISTORY. 

slab,  on  the  under  side  of  which  was  fastened,  face  downwards, 
a  leaden  plate  in  the  shape  of  a  cross,  with  the  words  inscribed 
on  the  face  : — "  Hie  jacet  sepultus  inclytus  rex  Arthurus  in 
insula  Avelonia."  (Here  lies  buried  the  famous  King  Arthur 
in  the  Avelonian  island.)  Nine  feet  below  this  the  searchers 
came  upon  a  hollowed  oak  tree,  in  which  were  found  the 
bones,  as  we  assume,  of  Arthur  occupying  two-thirds  of  the 
space,  and  the  bones  of  Guinevere  occupying  the  remaining 
third.  Her  hair  "yellow  and  beautiful,  and  braided  with 
exquisite  art "  (flavam,  formosam,  et  miro  artificio  consertam) 
crumbled  into  dust  when  they  touched  it.  The  remains  of 
both  were  reverently  removed  and  placed  in  a  magnificent 
tomb  before  the  high  altar.  Giraldus  did  not  witness  the 
exhumation,  nor  does  Camden  say  he  did.  He  was  shown  the 
cross  with  the  inscription  by  Henry,  who  was  made  abbot  on 
the  death  of  Henry  II.,  1189,  and  became  Bishop  of  Worcester 
1191,  whilst  Leland  was  also  shown  the  cross  by  Whiting,  and 
gazed  on  it  with  the  loving  curiosity  of  an  antiquary.  The 
cross  has  been  lost  or  mislaid,  but  Camden  took  a  copy  from  a 
"prototype,"  which  has  been  engraved  and  published.^^ 
Giraldus  was  also  shown  the  bones  of  Arthur,  which  were 
of  enormous  size.  The  shin  bone  was  placed  on  the  ground 
beside  the  leg  of  the  tallest  man  then  present,  and  was  three 
finger-breadths  above  his  knee.  The  skull  was  very  large, 
and  had  the  marks  of  ten  wounds  upon  it,  nine  of  which  had 
formed  into  a  firm  cicatrix.  The  tenth  was  a  wide,  gaping 
gash,  and  was,  seemingly,  the  cause  of  death.  These 
bones,  coupled  with  the  name  Arthur,  and  the  proofs  we  have 
given  of  Gaelic  immigrations  into  the  South  West  of  Britain 
indicate  that  this  man  of  gigantic  stature,  comparable  to  the 
Gaelic  giants  we  have  already  mentioned,  of  which  there  is 
no  example  amongst  the  pure  Cymri,  are  persuasive  proof 
that  Arthur  was  a  Gael ;  and  the  colour  of  Guinevere's  (Fin- 
nabhair  ?)  hair  is  some  evidence  that  she  too  was  of  Nordic 
stock.^^  In  1276  Edward  I.  and  Eleanor  visited  Glaston  Abbey. 
The  King  caused  Arthur's  tomb  to  be  opened,  when  he  "  found 
the  bones  of  wonderful  thickness  and  largeness."      Next  day 

^  Quam  ego  curiossimus  contemplatus  sum  oculis  et  solicitis  contrectavi  arti- 
culis  motus  antiquitate  rel  et  dignitate. 

*®  ^  Gaelic  =  Cymric  go  ;  e.g.,  -pw,  wine,  and  gioin,  wine,  63  and  64. 


GLASTONBURY   OF   THE   GAEL.  129 

the  King  folded  up  Arthur's  bones  and  the  Queen  Guinevere's 
bones  in  separate  wrappers,  with  precious  preservatives,  and 
fixed  their  seals  thereon.  The  skulls  of  both,  however,  were 
not  placed  in  the  tomb,  but  retained  as  relics  "  by  reason  of 
the  zeal  of  the  people." 

Two  epitaphs  had  been  already  placed  on  the  tomb — one 
for  Arthur : 

Hie  jacet  Authurus  flos  regum  gloria  regni 
Quern  mores,  probitas  commendant  laudi  perenni 

Here  lies  Arthur,  flower  of  Kings,  glory  of  tlie  realm, 
For  whom  a  pure  and  upright  life  has  won  eternal  fame. 

And  one  for  Guinevere  : 

Hie  jacet  Arturi  conjux  tumulata  secunda,* 
Quae  meruit  caelos  virtutum  prole  fecunda. 

Here  lies  entombed  Arthur's  wife,  seeondly  (I) 

The  fruitful  mother  of  virtues  that  have  won  her  heaven. 

The  story  we  have  just  placed  before  our  readers  is  some- 
times treated  as  a  monkish  forgery  and  fable.  In  a  recent 
work,  for  example,  by  distinguished  authors,  we  find  tho 
following  : — 

"  So  real  was  this  expectation  {i.e.,  the  return  of  Arthur,  hale  and 
strong,  to  lead  his  people),  that  it  is  supposed  to  have  counted  with 
the  English  King  as  one  of  the  forces  he  had  to  quell  in  order  to  obtain 
quiet  from  the  Welsh.  So  the  monks  of  Glastonbury  proceeded  to  dis- 
cover there  the  coffin  of  Arthur,  his  wife,  and  her  son  /  This  was  to 
convince  the  Welsh  of  the  unreasonableness  of  their  reckoning  on  the 
return  of  Arthur,  who  had  been  dead  for  some  600  years. "*^ 

We  consider  this  way  of  writing  history  to  be  deplorable. 

The  dead  are  entitled  to  fair  play  as  well  as  the  living  ;  and 

t  is  elementary  justice  that  if  a  grave  charge  is  to  be  made  it 

should  be  made  in  clear  and  precise  language,  and  not  by  way 

of  insinuation. 


*"  Secunda. — There  is  no  suggestion  in  any  text  that  Arthur  was  twice 
married,  and  we  conjecture  the  "-stridulous  "  poet,  as  Leland  calls  him,  wrote  both 
epitaphs,  and  used  "secunda"  to  make  his  rhyme,  in  the  above  sense,  with  the 
second  Hie  jacet. 

41  "The  Welsh  People  "  (1902)  Ehys  &  Jones,  p.  693.      The  son  is  imaginary. 

K 


V»" 


130  EARLV    IRISH    HTSTORV 

The  authors  here  must  be  held  to  mean,  and,  we  humbly 
think,  ought  to  have  said  that  Henry  II.,  and  the  monks  and 
divers  persons,  known  or  unknown,  conspired  to  palm  off  on 
the  Cymri  and  the  general  public  "  bogus  "  remains  of  Arthur 
as  genuine  for  a  political  purpose. 

We  venture  to  think  that  they  greatly  underestimated  the 
intelligence  of  the  Cymri,  the  sagacity  of  the  monarch,  and, 
we  will  add,  the  honesty  of  the  monks. 

Henry  was  not  likely  to  lend  himself  to  an  open  daylight 
fraud  that  was  certain  to  be  exposed  and  make  him  ridiculous, 
and  the  Cymri  never  asserted  that  it  was  a  fraud,  which  they 
would  certainly  have  done  if  there  were  any  grounds  for  such 
an  allegation.  The  Cymri  had  better  reasons  for  defending 
their  liberty  than  the  expectation  of  Arthur's  return,  and  the 
monarch  had  surer  means  to  enforce  their  obedience  than  the 
production  of  his  bones. 


[     131     ] 


CHAPTER  IX. 

THE   COMING   OF    ST.    PATRICK.* 

THos  fAOtAip  ocuf  ]:05nAmA  -00  CfifC. 
A  slave,  laborious  and  serviceable  to  Christ. — Trip.  Life. 

DURING  the  reigns  of  Crimthann,  Niall,  and  Dathi,  the 
Roman  Empire  was  sinking.  Torn  by  civil  strife; 
distracted  by  religious  controversy,  and  assailed  on  every 
frontier,  it  appeared  to  be  approaching  its  last  agonies.  The 
year  before  the  accession  of  Niall  (378  A.D.),  the  flower  of  the 
Imperial  army  fell  on  the  disastrous  day  of  Adrianople 
•''  Though  the  Romans,"  writes  Ammianus,  "  have  often  had 
experience  of  the  fickleness  of  fortune,  their  annals  contain 
no  record  of  so  destructive  a  defeat  since  the  battle  of  Cannae." 
In  383  A.D.,  Maximus  revolted,  and  crossed  over  into  Gaul 
with  the  greater  part  of  the  Roman  troops  then  stationed  in 
Britain.  In  400  A.D.,  Alaric  entered  Italy,  and  the  troops  at 
the  extremities  were  summoned  to  defend  the  heart  of  the 
Empire.  "  From  furthest  Britain,"  says  Claudian,  came  the 
guarding  legion  that  bridled  the  fierce  Scot,  and  wiping  off  the 
blood,  examined  closely  the  figures,  pictured  by  puncture 
on  the  dying  Pict."^  The  terrified  Romans  set  vigorously  to  work 
to  rebuild  the  walls  of  the  city. — How  were  the  mighty  fallen  ? 
Rome  was  now  to  experience  the  truth  of  the  old,  old  saying, 
so  much  admired  by  Polybius,  "  that  fortune  only  lends  her 
favours  to  nations." 

On  the  last  day  of  the  year  406  occurred  the  irruption  of 
the  barbarians  across  the  frozen  Rhine  into  Gaul.  "  Innumer- 
able and  cruel  nations,"   writes  St.    Jerome    (.342-426),   in  a 

1  The  Patrician  Dates  we  suggest  are  the  following  : — Biith,  392-393  ;  Cap- 
tivity, 407-408 :  Apostohc  Mission,  432 ;  Death,  492-493. 

a  Venit  et  extremis  legio  pr£Etenta  Britannis 

Qure  Scoto  dat  frena  tnici  ferroque  notatas 
Perlegit  exsangues  Picto  morienti  figuras. 

— '-De  iiei:o  Getico,"  416-18. 
Exsangues  =  clearing  away  the  blood  (?) 


132  EARLY   IRISH   HISTORY. 

letter  to  Ageruchium,  exhorting  her  against  a  second  marriage, 
"  have  inundated  Gaul.  All  that  lies  between  the  ocean  and 
the  Rhine,  and  between  the  Alps  and  the  Pyrenees,  has  been 
devastated  by  the  Quadi,  the  Vandals,  the  Sarmatians,  the 
Alani,  the  Herulians,  the  Burgundians,  and,  oh !  unhappy 
republic,  by  the  Pannonians.  Mainz,  which  was  formerly  an 
important  town,  has  been  taken  and  sacked,  and  thousands 
have  been  slaughtered  in  the  church.  After  a  long  siege, 
Worms  has  been  destroyed,  and  Rheims,  a  town  of  old  so 
strong  ;  Amiens,  Arras,  the  Morini,  who  dwell  at  the  extremity 
of  the  earth;  Tournai,  Spires,  Strasburg,  have  been  carried  off 
into  Germany  (translates  sunt  in  Germaniam).  Answer  me, 
my  daughter,  is  this  a  proper  time  to  think  of  marrying  ?  "  ^ 
"  A  cloud  of  Saxons,  Burgundians,  &c.,  followed  in  the  wake 
of  the  invading  host,  with  a  view  to  pillage  and  plunder. 
They  carried  off  so  many  Gauls  into  captivity  that,  according 
to  the  expression  of  a  contemporary,  the  Belgic  cities  were 
transported  into  Germany."* 

The  Morini  at  the  end  of  the  earth  was  a  reminiscence  of 
Virgil.  In  the  8th  book  of  the  "  ^neid,"  he  describes  the 
wonderful  shield  given  by  Venus  to  ^neas,  on  which,  in  one 
scene,  Augustus  is  pourtrayed  receiving  the  gifts  of  the  nations. 
He  is  seated  at  the  portals  of  the  Temple  of  Apollo.  In  long 
array  before  him,  file  envoys  from  the  conquered  peoples  from 
the  Euphrates  in  the  East  to  the  Morini,  furthest  of  men,  and 
the  "  two-horned  Rhine,"  on  the  West.  But  now,  "  Who  will 
believe  it  ? "  Jerome  asks.  "  What  fitting  language  can  ever 
be  found  to  express  it,  that  Rome  has  to  fight  at  the  heart  of 
the  Empire,  not  for  glory  but  for  life.^ 

Extremique  hominum  Morini  Rhenusque  bicornis. 

The  Morini  were  a  powerful  people,  contiguous  to  the  sea,  as 
the  name  implies,  in  the  north-west  of  Gaul.  Their  territory 
was  comprised  in  the  ancient  diocese  of  Therouanne,  which  is 
now  sub-divided  into  three — Boulogne,  St.  Omer,  and  Ypres. 
Under  the  organisation  of  Augustus  the  Morini  were  a  "civitas," 

•  Epist  ad  Ageruchium  De  Monogamia,  16-18,  Migne,  vol.  22,  col.  1,057. 

*  Martin's  "  Hist,  of  France,'  vol.  I.,  336. 

^  Quis  hoc  credet  ?  Quae  digno  sermone  historia  comprehendet  ?  Romam 
in  gremio  suo  noa  pro  gloria  sed  pro  salute  pugnare. — lb.  2J,  coL  1,058. 


THE  COMING  OF  ST.  PATRICK.  133 

an  administrative  centre,  a  city  state.  This  was  more  than  a 
town  and  its  suburbs.  It  was  a  territory  which  included  several 
small  towns  as  well  as  the  chief  city,  some  villages  as 
well  as  a  vast  number  of  small  properties.  The  rural  districts 
(pagi)  and  the  villages  (vici)  were  part  of  the  civitas  and  the 
most  important  proprietors  generally  held  the  magistracies  in 
the  chief  city,  and  formed  the  bulk  of  the  curia  or  city  senate, 
and  were  styled  decuriones.^  Taruanna  was  the  chief  city  of 
the  Morini.  It  was  situated  at  the  head  waters  of  the  Letia 
(now  Lys),  an  important  river  which  flows  from  the  Pas  de 
Calais  and  joins  the  Scheldt  at  Ghent,  after  a  course  of  150 
miles.  This  was  the  trade  route  from  the  Rhine  to  Britain.  It 
was  one  of  the  four  routes  from  Gaul  mentioned  by  Strabo, 
the  others  being  from  the  Garonne,  the  Loire,  and  the  Seine. 
"  For  such  as  set  sail  from  the  parts  about  the  Rhine,"  he  says, 
*'  the  passage  is  not  exactly  from  the  mouths  of  the  Rhine  but 
from  the  Morini,  who  border  the  Menapii,  among  whom  is  also 
situated,  I  learn,  Itium  (Boulogne),  which  the  deified  Ccesar 
used  as  a  naval  station."^  Taruanna  was  thus  a  very  important 
commercial  and  military  position.  The  name  seems  to  be 
derived  from  two  Celtic  words  signifying  the  Thor  of  the  River,^ 

Let  us  now  examine  what  St.  Patrick  says  in  bis  Confessions 
about  his  birthplace^ : — 

I  had  for  my  father  Calporniis,  a  dejicon  [decurion  1]  (the  son  of 
Potitus,  a  priest,  the  son  of  Odissus),  who  lived  in  the  Vicus  Bannauem 
of  Tabernia.  For  he  had  a  small  property  hard  by  where  I  was  taken 
prisoner,  when  I  was  nearly  sixteen  years  of  age.  /  knew  not  God 
truly,  and  I  was  brought  captive  to  Ireland  with  so  many  thousands,  as 
we  deserved,  for  we  had  fallen  away  from  God  and  not  kept  his 
commandments,  and  were  not  obedient  to  our  priests,  who  admonished 
us  for  our  salvation. 

[A        ^  Fistel  de  Coulanges.     Instel  Polet,  vol.  I.,  228.      [Ed.  1001.] 

'  Strabo,  iv.,  51-3. 

8  "  Teronanne  et  Acqs  en  Provence  etaientles  denx  oreillers  siir  lesquelB  le 
roi  de  France  pouvait  dormir  en  paix."  Paroles  de  Francis  I.  Tor,  as  we 
have  already  stated,  meant  a  fenced  town  or  buttery,  from  the  root  "  tver,"  to 
hold  or  enclose.  We  invite  our  readers  to  keep  it  well  in  mind,  as  it  appears 
in  various  forms,  particularly  in  "  nem  thor,"  to  be  mentioned  hereafter. 

"  Uanna,"  the  second  moiety  of  Taruanna,  is  from  abha  gen.  abhann,  a 
river,  so  we  suggest  that,  Taruanna  meant  fenced  town  or  buttery  of  the  river 
[Lys].  Abann  is  pronounced  "  Ouann,"  and  Thor-ouaiin  is  not  very  different 
in  pronounciation  from  the  modern  word  Therouanne. 

Gregory  of  Tours  styles  the  inhabitants  Tar-abennenses. — Hist,  iv.,  19. 

*  Too  much  strecs  has,  we  think,  been  laid  on  the  rudeness  of  our  Saint's 
Latin.  He  was  conscious  of  this  himself,  and  refers  to  it,  which  is  evidence 
that  there  was  a  period  of  his  life  when  he  could  have  done  better.    As  it  is,  his 


184  EARLY   IRISH    HISTORY. 

Let  US  for  a  moment  assume  that  the  Vicus  Bannauem 
TabernisB  means  a  village  (or  village  district)  in  the  city  state 
of  Taruanna,  We  know  as  historical  facts  that  there  were 
very  many  thousand  persons  taken  prisoners,  and,  presumably, 
sold  as  slaves,  about  the  year  407  or  408  A.D.,  from  the  civitas 
of  Taruanna  and  the  adjoining  territories,  and  that  there  were 
many  priests  ministering  in  these  regions  at  that  time.  No 
other  place  has  been  suggested  as  the  birthplace  of  our  saint 
of  which  the  same  can  be  said,  as  we  shall  show  when  dealing 
with  the  claims  of  Alclyde  or  Dumbarton  to  that  distinction. 
Again,  in  the  epistle  to  Coroticus,  which,  if  not  genuine  in  this 
part,  was  certainly  composed  by  one  who  had  the  genuine 
confession  before  him,  it  is  stated  that  Calpornius  was  a  deciirio 
In  the  confession,  deacon  should  probably  be  deciirio,  as  it 
appears  to  explain  why  he  was  a  decurio  by  adding  for  he  had 
a  small  estate  (the  usual  qualification  for  a  decurio),  hard  by. 
There  is  not  a  shred  of  evidence  above  ground  or  under  ground, 
by  written  record,  monumental  inscription  or  even  by  unreason- 
able conjecture  that  there  ever  was  a  cur  la  or  a  decurion^'^  at 
Alclyde  or  anywhere  north  of  the  city  of  York  during  the  whole 
Roman  occupation  of  Britain.  In  the  early  centuries  of  our 
era  as  well  as  in  later  times  the  villa  meant  a  very  large  estate. 


genders,  cases,  optatives,  and  subjunctives,  and  the  "  other  torments  "  of  our 
youth,  seem  to  be  right  enough.  Having  turned  our  twelfth  lustrum,  however, 
we  speak  subject  to  correction.  His  principal  deficiency  appears  to  us  to  be 
scantiness  of  his  vocabulary  and  a  tendency  to  transfer  the  Gaehc  idiom  into  his 
style,  e.g.,  "  dedi  capturam  "  is  probably  C15AI1  fUAf,  "gave  himself  up," 
rather  than  vras  captured."  On  the  whole,  we  doubt  if  an  Oxford  prizeman 
\5'ent  as  a  missionary  to  Tanganyika,  and  having  spoken  the  local  vernacular  for 
sixty  years,  wrote  an  apologia  after  turning  ninety  5'ears  of  age — we  doubt,  we 
say,  if  he  would  do  much  better.  St.  Patrick  was,  no  doubt,  taught  Greek  anil 
Latin  until  he  was  nearly  sixteen  years  of  age.  Bilingual  instruction  was  the 
ordinary  course  in  the  schools,  not  only  in  the  Province,  but  also  in  the  three 
Gauls,  and  both  languages  were  in  common  use  in  Marseilles  and  tlie  South  of 
France,  where  he  made  his  studies  afterwards. 

Deumverum  iqnoraham. — This  is  usually  translated  I  did  not  know  the 
true  God  ;  but  the  context  proves  that  this  is  not  correct.  For  how  could  he 
fall  away  from  the  true  God  if  he  did  not  know  him.  He  was.  of  course,  in- 
structed in  at  least  the  elementary  doctrines  of  the  Christian  religion  by  the 
priests  he  refers  to.  We  may  state  here  that  our  chapters  about  St.  Patrick  were 
written  and  printed  in  the  New  If  eland  Revieiv  before  we  saw  the  Latin  V/ritmgs 
of  St.  Patrick  by  Dr.  White,  D.D.  We  have  read  his  valuable  contribution 
with  great  care,  but  find  nothing  to  alter  in  our  views  or  in  our  translations, 
which  differ  materially  from  his.     See  Proc.  Ry.  Ir.  Acad.,  vol.  25,  p.  201. 

''  Bury  refers  to  Kiibler's  article  Decurio  to  prove  the  existence  of 
Decurions  in  smaller  towns.  But  Kubler  mentions  no  case  in  Britain.  Life  of 
St.  Patrick,  p.  290. 


THE   COMING   OF   ST.   PATRICK.  185 

Tacitus  speaks  of"  villarum  infinita  spatia  "  villas,  i.e.,  domains 
of  interminable  extent.  The  diminutive  "  villula  "  was  the 
moderate  sized  estate,  also  styled  "curialis."  The  owner  stood 
between  the  great  proprietors  (potentiores  possessores)  and  the 
peasant  proprietors  (possessores  minores).^^  The  order  of 
decurions  was  composed  almost  exclusively  of  such  owners. 
There  is  an  Idyll  of  Ausonius  entitled  Ausonii  Villulam, 
written  about  this  time, -^.e.,  "the  little  estate  of  Ausonius." 
"  It  is  small,  I  confess,"  he  salys,  "  but  no  estate  is  small  for  a 
well-balanced  mind."^'^  The  Villula  was  situated  near 
Bordeaux,  and  consisted  of  200  jugera  (each  Vg  acre)  of  tilth, 
lOOjugera  of  vineyard,  50  jugera  of  meadow,  and  700  jugera  of 
wood,  in  all  1,050  jugera ;  say  650  acres.  The  villula  referred 
to  in  the  confession  may  have  been  quite  as  large.  Its  extent 
is  not  of  material  importance  here.  It  was,  at  any  rate, 
sufficient  to  qualify  for  the  burdensome  office  of  a  decurio,  i.e., 
over  25  jugera. 

Again,  the  place  referred  to  as  Tabernia  must  have  been  a 
well-known  place.  The  confession  does  not  state  where  it  was 
situated.  The  writer  evidently  thought  it  was  unnecessary 
to  do  so.  No  one  nowadays  would  think  of  stating  that 
Boulogne  was  in  France.  Taruanna  was  just  as  famous  then 
as  Boulogne  is  now.  Could  this  be  affirmed  of  any  other  place 
claiming  to  be  the  Saint's  birthplace  ? 

The  words  "  in  vico  Bannauem  Tabernias  "  next  claim 
our  attention.  "  Vicus  "  had  many  meanings.  In  the  time 
we  write  of  it  meant  (1)  a  street.  There  was  a  vicus  Patricus 
in  olden  Rome.  It  meant  (2)  an  urban  district,  say  a  parish. 
It  also  meant  (3)  a  village  or  rural  district.  Joubert  says 
"  there  were  10,000  vici,  400  pagi,  and  about  100  nations  in 
Gaul  in  Caesar's  time,  and  the  vici  correspond  to  the  modern 
communes."  ^^  A  passage  of  Ulpian  places  our  contention 
beyond  doubt.  It  provides  "that a  person  born  in  a  vicus  is 
deemed   in   law  to  be   a  citizen  by  birth  of  the  city  state  to 

"  This  distinction  is  found  in  the  Theodosian  Code  (3So  A.D.)  xi,  7.  12. 

^  Parvum  heredioliim,  fateor.  sed  nulla  fuit  rea. 

Parva  unquara  aequanimis. — Idyll  III. 

Ausonius  was  afterwards  tutor  to  Gratian,  the  son  of   the  Emperor  Valen- 
tinian,  and  Consul,  A.D.  379.  —  "  De  rhetore  Consul." 

"  Joubert  "La  Gaule."  134. 


136  EARLY   IRISH   HISTORY. 

which  that  vicus  appertained  (qui  ex  vico  ortus  est  earn 
patriam  intelligitur  habere  respublicae  cni  vicus  ille  respondet. 
— Digest  L.  30).  We  suggest  that  the  vicus  Bannauem 
appertained  to  the  city  state  Taruanna.  The  omission  of 
inflection,  i.e.,  Banuauem  instead  of  Bannauensi  makes  no 
difficulty.  It  was  usual  at  this  period  in  the  case  of  such 
names. 

The  real  question  is,  does  "  Tabernise  "  stand  in  the  text 
of  the  confession  for  "Taruannge."  If  Taber-nise  be  divided 
into  its  component  parts,  and  if  the  "  b  "  inTaber  be  aspirated 
then  the  pronounciation  would  be  "  thour "  which  would  be 
nearly  the  same  as  "  tar,"  pronounced  "  thaur."  The  second 
part  "  uannee "  would  then  be  represented  by  "  nise,"  the 
intervening  vowels  "  ua  "  being  omitted.  The  Irish  ortho- 
graphy of  Latin  words  had  several  peculiarities,  many  of 
which  are  conveniently  enumerated  by  Gilbert  in  the  intro- 
duction to  Lis  Fac-svniile  M.S.  It  will  suffice  for  us  to  mention 
the  following — "  Ch  "  for  "  h,"  e.g.  Abracham,  "  1  "  omitted, 
"audens"  for  "audiens,"  "i"  inserted,  "e"  forage,"  "q" 
for  "c,"  qu  for  "  c,"  "f'for  "  d."  In  this  way  Taber-[i]-niiE, 
pronounced  Thor-i-nias  comes  very  close  to  the  modern  name 
Therouanne.  The  view  we  are  suggesting  will  appear  more 
clearly  from  the  words  of  Muirchu,  which  are  copied,  we  may 
assume,  by  Probus.  Muirchu  wrote  his  notes  about  the  life  of 
our  saint  under  the  direction  and  supervision  of  Aedh,  Bishop 
of  Sleibhte  (in  the  Queen's  Co.,  near  Carlo y/),  who  died  in  the 
year  60S  A.D.^* 

Muirchu's  words,  which  we  take  from  the  Documenta 
Patriciana  are  (abridged)  as  follows : — 

"  Patricius,  qui  et  Socket  vocabatur,  Brito  natione  in 
Britannis  natus.  Caulfarni  diaconi  ortus  filio  ut  ipse  ait 
Potiti  presbyteri  qui  fuit  (de)  Vico  Ban  navemthaburindecha 
ut  procul  a  mari  nostro."  We  pause  to  suggest  that  the  words 
should  be  divided,  spaced,  and  written  as  follows : — "  de  vico 
Bannavem  Thabher  inde  (thaur-inne)  chaut  (i.e.  hand)  procul  a 
mari  nostro."  The  Life  by  Probus  follows  Muirchu  closely,  and 
he  had,  no  doubt,  before  him  the  first  leaf  of  the  notes  by 

1*  Muirchu  dictante  Aeduo  Slebtiensis  civitatisepiscopo  couscripsit.  Dictare 
oporam  significare  videtur  pr^eesse  operariis  eisque  normam  tradere  atjue 
ordinem  structioDis.-— Du  Caage. 


THE   COMING   OF    ST.    PATRICK.  187 

Muirchu.  which  is  now  missing  from  the  book  of  Armagh. 
Father  Hogan's  text  is  taken  from  a  MS.  in  the  Royal  Library 
at  Brussels.  Probus  is  identified  by  Colgan  with  Coenechair, 
a  professor  or  head  master  in  the  School  of  Slane,  on  the 
Boyne,  who  died  about  the  year  950.  His  words  are  : — "  Sanctus 
Patricius  qui  et  Socket  vocabatur  Brito  fuit  natione  .  .  .  Hie 
in  Britaniis  natus  est  a  patre  Calpurnio  diacono  qui  fuit  filius 
Potiti  presbyteri  .  .  .  de  vico  Bannaue  Tiburniae  regionia 
haud  procul  a.  mari  occidentali." 

Muirchu  continued  : — Quem  vicum  constanter  indubitan- 
terque  comperimus  esse  ventre  {prius  venitre  ?),which  "  vicus  " 
we  have  found  without  any  doubt  or  difference  of  opinion  to  be 
of  ventra  or  venitra.  Probus  has  "  quem  vicum  indubitantsr 
comperimus  esse  Nentreae  or  Neutreae  (Todd),  provinciae  qua 
dim  gigantes*  habitasse  dicuntur,"  which  vicus  we  hold  to  be 
without  doubt  of  the  province  of  Nentria  or  Neutria,  in  which 
the  giants  are  said  to  have  dwelt  formerly.  There  can  be  no 
doubt,  ws  think,  that  "  Nentriae  "  or  "  Neutriae  "  in  Probus 
represents  the  word  ventre  [i.e.  ventrae]  or  venitrae  in  the 
Brussels  text  of  Muirchu.^^  It  was  understood  so  by  Lanigan, 
and  must  mean  Neustria,  which  was  also  called  Neptria  and 
Nevtria.  It  comprised  at  this  time  the  territory  between  the 
Meuse  and  the  Loire.^° 

After  his  capture  our  Saint  was  sold  "  with  many  thou- 
sands "  into  Erin.  Slaves  were  a  drug  in  the  market  at  that 
time.  Two  years  previously,  A.D.  405,  Stilicho  had  forced  the 
army  of  Radagaisus  to  surrender  in  the  Tuscan  hills  to  the 
number,  some  say,  of  200,000 !  "  They  were  sold  as  slaves,  and 

*Gieai^tes. — This  has  no  meaning  here.  There  is  no  record  or  myth  about, 
giants  dwellins  in  North  Western  Gaul.  We  conjecture  Brigantes,  which,  after 
the  fashion  of  his  age.  Probus  connected  etymologically  and  genealofrically  with 
Britania,  Bre^/i-an,  and  Bn7/i-an  being  similar  in  sound  in  Gaelic  pronunciation.       ^ 

Socket,    afterwards    SAjA-jir,    was    probably   the  first    Gaelic    attempt  at   /  , 
Sacerdos — which  meant  bishop  as  well  as  priest.  / 

^^  Hogan  E.,  S.J.,  Documenta  de  S.  Patricio  Analecta  Bollondiana,  vol.  1., 
p.  549 ;  Todd,  p.  357  ;  Colgan,  Acta,  SS.  ii.  51. 

^8  Partem  ad  occasum  solis  vergentem  quae  inter  Mosam  et  Ligerem  inter- 
jacet  Neustriam  vel  Neustrasiam  et  nonunquam  Neptricam  vel  Neptriam  voca- 
verunt. — Valesius  Notitia  G allea mm (li\l 5),  p.  372. 

^■^  Orosius — Tanta  vero  multitudo  captivorura  Gothorum  fuisse  fertur,  ut 
vili3^imorum  pecudnm  modo  singulis  aureis  passim  greges  hominum  vende- 
rentur. — vii.,  S6.      Migae  3i,  1161. 


138  EARLY    IRISH   HISTORY. 

fetched  only  the  price  of  cattle,  an  aureus  (12s.)  apiece.  This 
may  account  for  the  vast  importation  mentioned  in  the  Con- 
fession, to  which  we  now  return. 

He  became  the  slave  of  Milchu,  the  King  of  North  Dala- 
radia,  who  lived  in  the  valley  of  the  Braid,  near  the  hill  of 
Slemish,  about  five  miles  from  Ballymena,  in  the  county  of 
Antrim.     The  Confession  proceeds  : — 

But  after  I  had  come  to  Ireland  I  daily  used  to  herd  cattle,  and  I 
prayed  frequently,  and  in  the  one  day  I  said  about  one  hundred 
prayers,  and  as  many  in  the  night.  And  one  night  in  my  sleep  I  heard 
a  voice  saying  to  me  "  Thou  fastest  -svell ;  thou  shalt  soon  go  to  thy 
fatherland,"  and  ao-ain  after  a  short  time  I  heard  an  answer  saving  to  me 
"  Behold  thy  ship  is  ready."  And  it  was  not  near,  but  perhaps  200 
(Roman)  miles  away  (184  statute  miles).  After  this  I  took  flight  and 
left  the  man  with  whom  I  had  been  for  six  years.  And  J  feared 
nothing  until  I  had  arrived  at  that  ship,  and  on  the  day  I  arrived  the 
ship  moved  out  of  its  place  {i.e.,  from  the  beach),  and  I  told  them  I 
was  away  from  the  wherewithal  (to  give)  that  I  might  sail  with 
them.^^  And  it  displeased  the  captain,  and  he  answered  sharply  with  in- 
dignation, "  By  no  means  seek  to  go  with  us."  And  1  separated  myself 
from  them  and  was  going  on  my  way,  when  one  of  them  called  out, 
"  Come  quickly,  the  men  are  calling  you."  I  returned  and  they 
said,  "  Come,  we  take  you  on  credit  and  help  us  (lit.  do  friendship  with 
us)  as  you  please."  That  day,  however,  I  refused  to  eat  their  food, 
through  the  fear  of  God,  and  after  (a  voyage  of)  three  days  we  reached 
land. 

We  suggest  that  the  first  part  of  this  journey  was  from 
Slemish  to  Sligo,  or  more  probably  to  Killala,  near  which  was 
the  wood  of  Foclat,  where  he  took  ship  for  the  mouth  of  the 
Loire. 1^.     The  cargo  consisted  chiefly  of  dogs,  which  the  owner 

^^  Et  i1la  die  qua  perveni  profec<"a  est  navis,  de  loco  suo  et  locutus  sum  ut 
ahirem  unde  navigarera  cuin  illis.  The  Armagh  text  has  abirem.  The  Cotton 
MS.  has  haberem.  We  suggest  aheram,  the  meaning  being  that  he  had  not 
the  money  to  pay  his  fare  at  that  time,  but  would  pay  at  ^Marseilles  where  he 
had  friends.  This  corresponds  to  the  following  "ex  fide"  on  credit  [Veni 
quia  ex  fide  recipimus  te].  Sugere  mammillas,  suck  their  paps, means  eat  their 
food.  Our  Saint  scrupled  to  do  so  lest  it  might  be  an  idol  offering.  White 
quotes  with  approval  Bury: — "  Professor  Bury  has  kindly  communicated  to  me 
after  the  Latin  text  was  printed  the  following  note — '  I  take  Sugere  mamellas 
to  be  an  interesting  piece  of  evidence  for  a  ceremoay  or  primitive  adoption  ! '  " 
— Proc.  Ry,  Jr.  Acad.,  vol.  26,  p.  321. 

^^  The  land  journey  was,  we  think,  from  Slemish  to  the  Cutts  at  the  Bann, 
near  Coleraine,  thence  to  Derry,  thence  by  the  Gap  of  Barnesmore  to  Donegal, 
thence  to  Ballyshanaon,  tlience  to  Sligo,  thence  to  Ballina,  thence  to  Killala. 
We  are  unable  to  state  exact  figures  for  these  distances,  but  conjecture  from 
map  measurements  that  going  by  the  ordinary  routes  it  could  not  have  been  less 
than  15')  miles,  and  a  runaway  slave  would  not  be  likely  to  keep  to  the  high- 
ways, and  stating  a  round  number  from  recollection  would  not  be  far  astray 
ia  mentioning  200  Roman  or  18i  English  miles  as  the  length  of  his  journey. 


THE  COMING  OF  ST.  PATRICK.  139 

wastakin?  to  Marseilles.  The  voyage  over  tlie  sea  conld  be 
accomplished  in  3  days.  Philip  O'Sullivan  Beare  in  his  Decas 
Patritiana,  says,  as  already  stated,  it  was  scarcely  more  than 
a  two  days'  voyage  from  Ireland  to  France,  or  than  a  three 
days'  voyage  from  Ireland  to  Spain,  i.e.,  from  Kinsale  to 
Coriinna.2'' 

The  Gaelic  and  Celtic  hounds  were  greatly  prized  by  the 
Italians  and  Provencal  villa  proprietors,  who  usually  kept  packs 
of  hounds  for  hunting  game,  a  sport  in  which  they  greatly  de- 
lighted. These  dogs  were  also  used  for  games  and  exhibitions 
in  the  circus.  Symachus,  consul  A.D,  391,  thanks  his  brother 
Flavianus  for  sending  seven  Gaelic  dogs  (canum  Scoticorum 
oblatio)  which  the  Romans  received  with  such  astonishment 
on  the  day  of  the  games  that  they  thought  they  must 
have  been  brought  in  iron  cages  [as  if  they  were  lions  or 
tigers.]^^ 

In  Claudian  the  dogs  are  represented  as  follow- 
inar  the  huntress  Diana  and  her  five  lieutenants  in  their 
quest  for  wild  beasts  to  win  plaudits  for  the  consul 
(Stilicho).  Amongst  other  dogs  he  mentions  the  Britannte, 
i.e.,  the  Scotic  dogs,  dogs  that  will  break  the  necks 
of  mighty  bulls.  (Magnaque  taurarum  fracturae  colla 
Britannae,)-"^ 

The  Confession  does  not  mention  what  the  party 
ditl  when  they  arrived  in  France,  nor  does  the  samt 
say  afterwards  what  he  did  when  the  Lord  delivered 
him  from  their  hands.  From  the  time  he  went  on 
board  ship  until  his  liberation  he  tells  us  sixty  days 
elapsed,  of  which  twenty-eight  were  spent  in  the  desert, 
two  resting,  and  ten  finishing  the  journey,  making  in  all 
forty  days.  Of  the  balance  of  twenty  days,  three  were  spent  on 
the  voyage,  and  the  remaining  seventeen  days,  about  which 
nothing  is  said,  were  probably  spent  in  landing,  making  pre- 
parations for  the  journey,  and  going  forward   as   far  as  the 


2"  Euronotum  versus  Galliam  (Scotia)  habet  vix  plus  duoruni  dierum  marino 
itinere  remotam.  Hispanias  tridui  normal!  cursu  dissitas  a  Libonoto  sive 
Africo  in  aquilonem  ventum  occurrentes  spectat. — Decas  p.  2  (1619). 

21  See  "The  Irish  Wolf  Dog."      E.  Hogan,  S.J.,  passim. 

83  In  II.  Cons.  Stilich,  Lib.,  361. 


140  EARLY   IRISH   HISTORY. 

desert.      The  reference  to  this  journey  in  Fiacc's  Hymn  is  as 
follows : — 

"  Said  Victor  to  Milchu's  bondsman  that  he  should  go  over 

the  waves, 
He  [i.e.   Victor]   set  his  foot  on  the  flag  stone  ;  its  trace 

remains,  it  wears  not  away, 
He  sent  him  over  all  the  Alps   [tar  Elpa  huile],  Great  God 

it  was  a  marvel  of  a  coiir.se, 
So    that  he   left  him  with  Gerraanus  in  the  South,  in  the 

soiithern  part  of  Letha. 
In   the   i.sles   of  the   Southern  Sea   he   fasted  ;  therein  he 

meditates. 
He  read  the  Canon  with  Germanus ;  this  is  what  the  written 

lines  declare." 

After  landing  at  the  mouth  of  the  Loire,  we  suggest,  the 
party  proceeded  towards  Orleans,  probably  keeping  near  the 
river.  This  occupied  the  better  part  of  seventeen  days.  East  of 
Orleans,  a  great  forest  then  covered  the  upland  between  the 
Loire  and  the  Seine.  Until  recent  times  this  region  was  so 
thinly  populated  that  it  was  known  as  the  Gatinais,  or  wilder- 
ness— Gatine  was  old  French  for  desert.  This  was  part  of  the 
desert  referred  to  in  the  Confession.  If  the  party  then  followed 
the  course  of  the  Loire — "  the  Loire  of  the  Alps,"  as  it  is 
called  in  the  text  already  mentioned — they  would  reach  the 
Morvan,  which  is  a  promontory  jetting  out  from  the  Massif 
Central  (Cevennes),  twenty  miles  broad  and  forty  miles  long. 
The  Loire,  which  rises  in  the  Massif  Central  at  an  elevation 
of  4,511  feet  above  the  level  of  the  sea,  and  has  a  course  of  620 
miles,  passes  alongside  of  the  Morvan  as  it  flows  north-west  to 
Orleans.  After  crossing  the  Morvan  the  party  would  descend 
into  the  narrow  valley  of  the  Rhone,  which  separates  the 
Massif  Central  from  the  Alps,  of  which  it  is  geologically  an  out- 
post. South  of  this  lay  the  Provincia,  which  was  not  part  of 
the  "  Three  Gauls,"  and  which,  as  Pliny  wrote,  was  more  truly 
Italia  than  a  "  Provincia."  The  Alps  crossed  by  our 
Saint  was  some  spur  of  the  Massif  Central  and  the  Italy 
into  which  he  descended,  was  the  Provincia,^  and  the 
islands  south  of  Italy  were  the  islands  in  the  Mediter- 
ranean    south     of    this     Italy.       This    view    explains    the 

83  Breviterqus  Italia  verius  quam  Provincia. — Pliny  N.H.,  iii„  4. 


THE   COMING   OF   ST.   PATRICK.  141 

Dictum  Patricii.  "I  bad  the  fear  of  God  to  guide  me  on 
my  journey  through  the  Gauls  and  Italy  in(to)  the  islands  in 
the  Tyrrhene  Sea.-"^ 

The  word  Italia  had  at  this  time,  after  the  territorial  changes 
introduced  by  Diocletian,  many  significations.  The  one 
thing  it  did  not  mean  in  the  official  language  was  Italy  as  a 
geographical  unit  by  itself.  For  instance — 1st.,  the  Prefecture 
of  Italy  included  the  dioceses  of  Italy,  Illyricum,  and  Africa  ; 
2nd.,  the  Diocese  of  Italy  included  Italy,  Tyrol,  Grisons,  and 
South  Bavaria.  Ruffi,  the  historian  of  Marseilles,  writes  of 
going  from  the  Province  into  Gaul.  It  need  not  surprise  us, 
therefore,  to  find  the  "  furthest  of  men  "  at  this  time  regarding 
a  province  which  was  not  a  part  of  the  "  three  Gauls  "as  part 
and  parcel  of  Italy  itself.  So  in  the  Tripartite  Life  (239) 
Burdigala  (Bordeaux)  is  referred  to  as  being  in  Letavia  (Italy). 
'•  He  left  Sechnall  in  the  bishopric  with  the  men  of  Erin  until 
the  ship  should  come  from  Burdigala  of  Letavia  to  carry  him. 
Patrick  went  in  this  and  came  to  Rome." 

Our  readers  may  ask,  Why  did  the  party  proceed  through 
the  forests  ?  Was  there  not  a  highway  from  Marseilles  to  Lyons 
by  the  left  bank  of  the  Rhone,  and  from  Lyons  to  Orleans  and 
Tours  on  the  Loire  1  The  answer  is,  there  was ;  but  the  bye-ways 
were  then -safer  than  the  highways.  The  country  had  been 
laid  waste  by  the  barbarians,  and,  in  all  probability,  neither 
food  nor  lodging  for  man  or  beast  could  be  obtained  along  the 
great  Roman  road.  Writing  in  416  or  417  a.d.,  a  poet, 
supposed  by  some  to  be  Prosper  of  Aquitaine,  says  : — "  For 
ten  years  we  have  been  cut  down  by  the  swordsof  the  Vandals 
and  the  Goths  ;  if  the  whole  ocean  was  poured  into  Gaul 
more  would  be  left  above  the  waters.  So  many  cities  have 
perished,  what  crimes  did  the  citizens  commit  ?  So  many 
blameless  youths,  so  many  maidens.  How  had  they 
offended  ?  "^^ 

24  Timorem  Dei  habui  ducem  itineris  mei  per  Gallias  atque  Italiam  etiam 
ki  insulis  quae  sunt  ia  mari  Terreno. 

^  Carmen  de  Providentia 

Si  totus  gallos  sese  effudisset  in  agros 
Oceanus,  vastis  plus  superesset  aquis 

Heu  coede  decenni. 
Vandalicis  gladiis  sternimur   et  Geticis 
Quo  sceleri  admisso  pariter  periere  tot  urbes  ? 
Quid  pueri  insonte.'J,  Quid  commisere  puellae  ? 

Migne,  vol.  51,  col,  617. 


142  EAET.Y   IRISH   HISTORY. 

The  Confession  continues : — 

And  we  journeyed  for  28  days  through  a  desert,  and  food  failed 
them  and  liunger  prevailed  over  them,  ;ind  one  day  the  gubernator  said 
to  me  :  "  How  is  it,  Christian,  you  say  your  God  is  all  powerful  ?  Why 
therefore  canst  thou  not  pray  for  us  since  we  are  like  to  die  of  hun^-er, 
and  'tis  hard  if  ever  we  see  the  face  of  man  again  1 "  Now  I  said 
plainly  to  them,  "  turn  ye  with  faith  to  the  Lord,  my  God,  to  whom 
nothing  is  impossible,  that  he  may  send  you  food  on  your  way  until  you 
have  enough,  because  everywhere  there  is  abundance  with  Him  ?  "  And 
lo  !  a  herd  of  swine  appeared  on  the  way  before  our  eyes  and  they 
killed  many  of  them,  and  they  remained  there  two  nights,  and  they 
were  well  recruited  and  their  dogs  were  filled.  After  this  they  gave 
the  greatest  thanks  to  God.  They  found,  moreover,  wild  honey,  and 
offered  me  some,  and  one  of  them  said  "  it  is  an  idol  offering  "  (immo- 
laticum).  Thank  God  after  that  I  tasted  none  of  it.  And  that  same 
night  Satan  tempted  me  greatly  in  a  way  that  I  shall  remember  as 
long  as  I  am  in  this  body.  And  he  fell  upon  me  like  a  huge  rock  and 
I  had  no  power  on  my  limbs  save  that  it  came  home  into  my  mind  that 
I  should  call  out  Helias  ('EXtftwoi/?)  "''  and  in  that  moment  I  saw 
the  sun  rise  in  the  heavens,  and  while  I  was  calling  out  Helias 
('EX£€£ffo»')  with  all  my  might,  behold,  the  splendour  of  the  sun  fell 
upon  me  and  at  once  removed  the  weight  from  me  and  I  believe  that 
1  was  aided  by  Christ,  my  Lord,  and  His  spirit  was  then  crying  out  for 
me,  and  I  hope  it  will  be  thus  in  the  day  of  trial  (die  pressurae).  And 
further,  I  was  seized  by  many  (spirits).  On  that  first  night,  then, 
that  I  remained  with  them  I  heai-d  the  divine  voice,  "  You 
will  be  with  them  for  two  months."  And  so  it  was.  On 
the  60  night  the  Lord  delivered  me  from  their  hands.  On  our  route 
too  He  provided  for  us  food  and  fire  and  dry  weather  every  day  until 
on  the  tenth  day  we  all  arrived.  As  I  stated  before,  we  had  made  a 
journey  of  28  days  through  the  desert;  and  on  the  night  we  arrived 
we  had  indeed  no  food  left. 

^  Heliam  vocarem.  We  su^uest  "  EXftiffov  " — Have  mercy.  This  is  in- 
dicated by  the  context  and  by  the  following  dectum  Patricii. 

Ecclesia  Scotorum  immo  Romanorum ;  ut  Christeani  ita  ut 
Romani  sitis  ut  decantabitur  vobiscum  oportet  omni  hora  orationis  vox 
ilia  laudabilis  "  Curie  lession  Christe  lession."  '  Omnis  Ecclesia  quae 
sequitur  me  cantet  '  Curie  lession  Christe  lession,  Deo  gratias.' 

The  Church  of  the  Scots  now  is  the  Church  of  the  Romans  ;  as  you 
are  Christian  that  you  may  be  likewise  Roman,  it  is  needful  that  you 
should  sing  at  every  hour  of  prayer  that  laudable  chant  Kvpu  iXiuaov 
XpioT£  eXieiffov.  Every  Church  that  follows  me  will  sing  Kvpie  kXUiaov 
Xpccrre  iXitfaov,  Thanks  to  God,  ordinary  pronunciation  now  is  Kwptf  XiiaZv 
or  Kfpte  Xrjerjoi'.     The  Gaelic  pronunciation  of  "  lession  "  is  "  lessin." 

We  are  unable  to  accept  Bury's  version  "Ciiurch  of  the  Scots  now  of  the 
Romans  in  order  that  you  may  be  Christians  as  well  as  Romans  it  behoves  that 
there  should  be  chanted  in  your  churches,  etc."  The  plural  "  satis  "  excludes 
this.     St.  Patrick,  p.  229,  and  see  Academy,  Aug.,  18S8,  p.  89. 

Dicta  Patricii. — Analecta  BoUandiana  I.  585. — Rolls  scr.  IV.  301. 

Multos  adhuc  capturam  dedi. 

We  think  roultis  animis=daemonibus  is  the  only  reading  that  will  make  sense. 
Ferguson  says  the  confession  here  refers  to  "  a  continuing  spiritual  captivity.  " 


THE   COMING   OF   ST.    PATRICK.  143 

When  St.  Patrick  arrived  at  Marseilles,  Cassian  was  build- 
ing, or  had  just  built,  the  Monastery  of  St.  Victor,  which  was 
destined  to  be  afterwards  one  of  the  wealthiest  and  most 
celebrated  in  France.  It  was  built  over  the  "  Confession  "  or 
tomb  of  the  Soldier  Martyr,  St.  Victor,  who  had  suffered  for  the 
faith  during  the  Diocletian  persecution  on  the  22nd  of  July 
303,  on  which  day  the  feast  of  St.  Mary  Magdalen  is  now 
celebrated  therein.  He  was  a  native  of  Marseilles,  flis  body 
was  dismembered,  and  with  the  bodies  of  others  who  suffered 
at  the  same  time,  thrown  by  the  executioners  into  the  sea. 
His  townsmen  gathered  the  remains  from  the  beach  and 
placed  them  in  the  crypts,  over  which  the  monastery  was  built, 
near  the  cubiculum,  or  cell  of  Mary  Magdalen.  Lazarus  and 
Mary  and  Martha  were,  according  to  the  tradition  of  the 
church  in  Provence,  driven  from  Palestine  after  the  Ascension 
of  our  Lord  and  fled  to  Marseilles,  and  were  the  pioneers  of 
Christianity  there.  These  crypts  were  originally  natural  caves 
and  passages  in  a  limestone  hill  near  the  harbour.  When 
Caesar  besieofed  the  town  in  49  B.C.,  on  this  hill  it  was  that 
the  celebrated  Druid's  grove  was  situated,  which  struck  such 
awe  into  his  soldiers  that  to  dissipate  their  terror  ha  took  up 
an  axe  and  dealt  the  first  blows  to  a  venerable  oak.^^ 

The  truth  of  the  tradition  was  assailed  by  Launay  and  his 
school  in  the  I7th  century.  It  has  been  ably  defended  by 
many  writers,  amongst  others  by  the  Bishop  of  Angers,  then 
professor  at  the  Sorbonne,  who,  in  the  course  of  his  lecture  on 
"  The  First  Apostles  of  Gaul,"  made  the  following  admirable 
observations,  which  we  have  endeavoured  to  apply  to  our  own 
traditions,  and  deem  it  not  superfluous  to  quote  in  this  place  : 

They  have  violated  the  rules  of  sound  criticism.  If  they  had 
confined  themselves  to  saying  that  amongst  the  legends  of  the  first 
apostles  of  Gaul,  composed  after  the  lapse  of  many  centuries  and 
grounded  on  popular  tradition,  there  were  some  which  mixed  up  with 

^  Gregory  of  Tours,  Multismiraculis  celeherimum.  De  gloria  Matty  rum. 
Lib.  I. 

Ruinart  Acta  Marty  rum  (Ed.  1853)  p.  333. 

Notice  sur  les  Crypts  de  VAbhaye  Saint  Victor  pres.  Marseilles,  1864. 
A  very  interesting  notice  by  an  anonymous  writer,  with  a  plan  of  the  Crypts ; 
only  40  copies  printed. 

Faillon  M.,  M onuments  inedits  sur  Vapostolat  de  Sainte  Marie  Madeleine 
en  Provence. 


144  EARLY   IRISH   HISTORY. 

an  incontestable  body  of  facts,  inexact  details  and  apocryphal  traits 
added  thereto  by  the  popular  imagination  and  the  simplicity  of  writers, 
they  %vould  have  kept  within  the  bounds  of  calm  and  impartial 
discussion.  If  this  principle  had  been  accepted  the  way  would  have 
been  clearly  marked  out  for  a  methodical  search  for  truth.  To  study 
those  old  legends  without  bias  towards  praise  or  censure,  as  so  much 
primitive  tradition,  often  enlarged  and  embellished  with  a  view  to 
edification,  to  examine  with  care  their  origin  or  their  value,  to  extract 
the  historical  element  which  is  often  shut  up  in  them  under  the  veil  of 
poetry,  to  strip  the  principal  fact  of  accessory  circumstances  subse- 
quently worked  in,  such  is  the  task  a  sound  criticism  has  to  perform. 
But  there  is  rashness,  to  say  the  least  of  it,  in  refusing  all  belief  to 
these  legendary  narratives,  in  rejecting  absolutely  the  "  ensemble  "  as 
well  as  the  details,  the  body  of  facts  as  well  as  the  foreign  additions. 
It  carries  no  small  authority,  what  a  church  by  unbroken  tradition 
testifies  as  to  the  name,  the  life,  and  the  works  of  its  founder.^ 


The  truth  of  this  tradition  and,  what  concerns  us  more 
nearly,  the  great  evangelizing  work  done  by  the  Monastery  of 
St.  Victor,  are  attested  by  the  Bull  or  Privilegium  of  Pope 
Benedict  IX.  After  being  completely  destroyed  by  the 
Saracens  in  the  9th  century,  the  structure  was  rebuilt  and  re- 
dedicated  in  1040.  "  The  rededication,"  says  Ruffi,  "  was  one  of 
the  most  illustrious  that  history  records."  The  Pope  performed 
the  ceremony  of  rededicating  the  two  churches,  the  uppei 
church  dedicated  to  SS.  Peter  and  Paul,  and  the  lower  church, 
in  which  were  the  confession  of  St.  Victor  and  the  relics  of  the 
martyrs,  and  many  religious  treasures.  The  Counts  of  Provence, 
the  Viscounts  of  Marseilles,  the  Archbishops  of  Aries,  Valence, 
Aix,  and  Embrun,  and  some  twenty  suffragan  bishops  took 
part  in  the  function.  Numerous  abbots  and  religious,  in  all 
Qearly  ten  thousand  persons,  were  assembled,  It  was  on  this 
occasion  that  the  Privilegium  or  Bull  was  issued,  from  which 
we  take  the  following  abridged  extract : — 


With  the  same  care  we  determined  to  confirm  this  monastery, 
founded  near  Marseilles  in  the  time  of  Antoninus  Pius,  and  afterwards 
built  by  the  blessed  abbot  Cassian  and  consecrated  at  his  request  by 
the  most  blessed  Leo,  Bishop  of  Rome  *  *  *  which  was  augmented 
with  many  honours  and  charters  by  emperors  and  kings,  and  enriched 
with  the  relics  of  the  holy  martyrs  Victor  and  his  companions   and  of 

^  Freppel  C.  E.,  Bishop  of  Angers  :  Irenee  et  I'iloquence  Chretienne  dans 
la  Gaule  pendant  les  deux  premiers  sieclcs.  Cours  d'eloqueace  sacriie  fait  a  la 
Sorbomie  pendant  I'ano^e  I8uO-1861,  p.  46. 


THE  COMING  OF  ST.  PATRICK.  145 

Lazarus  raised  from  the  dead,  and  of  the  inmimerable  martyrs,  con- 
fessors, and  virgins,  as  is  testified  in  many  volumes  of  sacred  litera- 
ture,^ 

It  roas  from  this  monastery  that  Cassian  first  shone  forth  to  pro- 
mulgate everywhere  in  Western  pdrts  the  monastic  rule  for  the  perfect 
and  regular  way  of  monastic  life ;  and  this  ^nonastery  in  the  love  of 
Christ  its  spotise  zvas  so  persevering  in  its  mission  that  its  voice  went 
forth  into  every  land  and  its  teaching  like  a  bright  lamp,  spread  the 
light  to  the  ends  of  the  earth.^'  ^" 

Cassian  was  probably  born  in  Lesser  Scythia,  in  some 
trading  station  of  the  Marsellaise  in  that  territory,  near  the 
mouths  of  the  Danube.  He  was  educated  at  Bethlehem,  and 
afterwards  went  to  Egypt,  where  he  spent  seven  years  visiting 
anchorites  and  cenobites,  from  the  mouth  of  the  Nile  to  the 
first  cataract.  He  received  deacon's  orders  from  St.  John 
Chrysostom,  and  was  ordained  priest  by  Pope  Innocent  I. 
Leaving  Rome,  he  arrived  in  Marseilles  about  the  year  410,  the 
year  in  which  St.  Honoratus  founded  the  celebrated  monastery 
at  Lerins,  and  built  his  monastery,  which  shortly  reckoned 
5,000  monks  attached  to  the  parent  house  and  its  dependencies. 
It  was  called  the  "gate  of  paradise,"  ^^  and  is  perhaps  referred 
to  in  the  dictum  of  our  Saint,  who  may  have  been  inwardly 
contrasting  its  peaceful  life  there  with  his  strenuous  militancy. 
"■  From  the  world  "  says  the  Dictum,  "  you  have  retired  into 
Paradise."  (De  Saccule  requisisstis  ad  paradissum).^^ 

There  were  two  classes  of  monks,  of  which  Ruffi  gives  an 
interesting  description.  The  first  were  the  Cenobites.  These 
led  a  life  in  common  under  the  Abbot,  or  Prior.  Amongst  these 
were  ononarchi  ad  succurenchiTii,  persons  of  the  first  quality, 
struck  with  a  dangerous  illness,  who  put  on  the  sackcloth  of 
penitence  to  gain  the  spiritual  aid  of  the  monks,  by  becoming 
members  of  the  "  Corps  "  of  the  Monastery.     If  they  recovered, 


29  B.um,  Histoire  de  Marseille,  vol.  II.,  25. 

^  Nam  et  in  occiduis  partibus  ad  monachorum  profectum  et  regularem 
tramitem  Cassianus  hinc  primus  emicuit,  ad  promulgandura  circiimquaqua 
Monachorum  legem,  quodque  monasterium  ita  ia  amore  Christi  sponsi  ambieiis 
perduravit  ut  in  omnem  terram  sonus  ejus  exiret,  et  in  fines  orbis  terrae  ejus 
doctrina  et  lucerna  fulgens  luceret. 

Privil.  Bened.,  ix.  ann.  MXL.,  printed  by 

Faillon,  M.  Abbe,  Monuments  inedits  sttr  I'apostolat  de  Sainte  Marie 
Madeleine  en  Provence  et  sur  les  autres  apotres,  etc.,  1848,  Vol.  II.,  p.  635. 

*^  Ruffi,  "  Ce  monastere  etait  appele  la  parte  de  Paradis,"  Vol.  II.,  p.  114. 
^  Tri-p.  Life  Pv.S.,  103.     Requissisti3=recessisti5,  qu  being  often  used  fore. 

L 


146  EARLY   IRISH   HISTORY. 

they  ■were  obliged  to  wear  the  habit  and  live  according  to 
monastic  discipline.  The  second  class  were  the  Anchorites ; 
these  shut  themselves  up  in  cells,  huts,  caunes  or  recluseries, 
which  the  Abbot  of  St.  Victor  had  got  built  in  the  neiehbour- 
hood.  They  did  not  make  much  ditference  between  the  cells 
and  the  huts,  both  being  hermitages,  composed  of  several 
(cellules)  small  cells.  The  monks  who  wished  to  live  in  strict 
solitude  retired  to  the  cells.  Those  who  lived  in  the  huts  had 
a  superior  over  them,  and  met  together  every  Saturday  and 
Sunday  for  the  "  office  "  in  the  church  of  the  Hermitage.  The 
Reclusi  (inclusi)  lived  more  retired,  for  they  took  a  vow  never 
to  leave  their  cells,  where  they  had  a  little  garden  and  a  little 
oratory  to  celebrate  Mass.  They  could  only  communicate 
with  seculars  through  a  window,  through  which  they  heard 
confessions — even  those  of  women.  After  they  were  enclosed, 
the  seal  of  the  Abbot  was  placed  on  the  door  of  the  cell,  which 
was  opened  only  in  case  of  dangerous  illness.  Even  then  the 
incluse  was  not  allowed  to  leave  the  cell.^^  The  latter  form  of 
life  was  much  encouraged  by  Cassian.  Addressing  certain  holy 
brothers  in  A.D.  428,  he  writes:  "You,  by  your  instructions, 
have  stirred  up  monks,  not  only  before  all^  to  seek  the  common 
life  of  the  ccenobia,  but  even  to  thirst  eagerly  for  the  sublime 
life  of  the  anchorite."  The  conferences  were  arranged  with 
such  care  "  that  they  are  suited  to  both  modes  of  life,  whereby 
you  have  made  not  only  the  countries  of  the  West,  but  even 
the  islands,  to  flouiish  with  great  crowds  of  brethren."  2* 

It  was  these  islands,  no  doubt  the  Stoechades  and  others, 
that  our  saint  visited  in  the  Tyrrhene  Sea.  St.  Honoratus, 
too,  the  friend  of  Cassian,  "  honoured,"  as  he  says  in  the  pre- 
face to  the  18th  conference,  "in  his  name  and  in  his  works," 
received  him,  doubtless,  with  open  arms.  All  flocked  to 
Honoratus,  says  his  biographer,  S.  Hilarius,  "  for  what  country, 
what  nation  is  there  that  has  not  citizens  in  his  monastery  ? "  ^^ 
It  was  a  school  of  Theology  and  Christian  Philosophy,  as  well 
as  an  asylum  for  literature  and  art.  Cassian  advised  his  monks 


S3  Ruffi,  vol.  2,  p.  135. 

8*  Cassian,  Preface  to  iSth  Conference. 

*^  Omnes  undique  al  ilium,  confluebant.  Etenim  quse  adhuc  terra  qua? 
natio  in  Monastereo  illius  Gives  noa  habet  ?— S.  Hilar.  Vita  S.  Honor.  C.  175, 
S.  Honoratus  died  in  428. 


THE   COMING   OF   ST.    PATRICK.  147 

to  avoid  bisbops — that  is,  to  remain  laymen.  The  Monastery  of 
St.  Victor  did  not  make  any  provision  for  studies  preparatory 
to  the  priesthood. 

There  can  be  little  doubt  that  our  apostle  made  his 
theological  studies  "  in  the  nursery  of  bishops  and  saints." 
St.  Honoratus  became  the  metropolitan  of  Aries  (Arelatensis) 
and  died  a.d.  428.  The  island  is  still  called  after  him — L'Isle 
de  S.  Honorat.  This  was  the  tradition  of  the  Irish  Church. 
Tirechan  says  "  He  was  in  one  of  the  islands,  which  is  called 
Aralanensis  {i.e.,  Sancti  Honorati  Arelatensis),  30  years,  as 
Bishop  Ultan  testified  to  me. '  St.  Lupos,  a  disciple  of  St. 
Germanus,  was  at  this  time  a  student  at  Lerins,  He  was  soon 
after  chosen  by  Troyes  for  its  bishop,  and  accompanied  St. 
Germanus  to  Britain  in  429.  St.  Germanus  became  Bishop  of 
Auxerre  in  418,  and  immediately  founded  there  an  establish- 
ment, which  became  one  of  the  most  celebrated  abbeys  in 
France  of  the  Middle  Ages.^^ 

'^  Erat  hautem  in  una  ex  insulis  quae  dicitur  aralanensis,  annis  XXX, ,  mihi 
testante  Ultano  episcopo.  The  letter  numeraL  are  of  course,  as  frequently 
happens,  erroneous.  Trip.  Life,  R.S.,  302.  The  Scholiast  on  Fiacc  refers  to 
the  island  oi  A I anen sis  as  the  place  where  St,  Patrick  got  the  staff  of  Jesus. 
Se^  Trip.  Ltfe,  420. 


[   us   ] 


CHAPTER  X. 

THE   COMING   OF   ST.   PATRICK. — II. 

THE  tradition  of  the  Irish  Church  is  that  our  Saint  studied 
under  Germanus.     This  is  corroborated  by  the  testimony 
of  Hericus  (834-883),  who  was  a  monk  in  his  monastery. 
Referring  tC'  the  disciples  of  St.  Germanus,  he  says  : — 

Since  the  glory  of  the  father  shines  in  the  training  of  the  children, 
of  the  many  sons  in  Christ  whom  St.  Germanus  is  believed  to  have  had 
as  disciples  in  religion,  let  it  suffice  to  make  mention  here,  very  briefly, 
of  one  most  famous — Patrick,  the  Apostle  all  by  himself  [peculiaris),  of 
the  Hibernian  region,  as  the  record  of  his  work  proves.  Subject  to 
that  most  holy  discipleship  for  eighteen  years,  he  drank  in  no  little 
knowledge  in  Holy  Scripture  from  the  stream  of  so  great  a  well-spring. 
Germanus  sent  him  by  Segetius,  his  priest,  to  Celestine,  Pope  of  Rome, 
approved'  of  by  whose  judgment,  supported  by  whose  authority,  and 
strengthened  by  whose  blessing,  he  went  on  his  way  to  Ireland.^ 

The  Scholiast  on  Fiacc  says  : — "  Germanus,  abbot  of  the 
city  called  Altiodorus  {i.e.,  Autissiodorum,  Auxerre).  It  is  with 
him  that  Patrick  read,  and  Burgundy  is  the  name  of  the 
province  in  which  that  city  stands.  In  the  south  in  Italy  that 
province  used  to  be,  but  it  is  more  correct  to  say  it  is  in  the 
Gauls."  2 

The  geography  of  Burgundy  is  complex.  There  was  at 
one  timea  Cisjuran  Burgundy,  the  capital  of  which  was  Aries, 
"in  Italy  in  the  South."      There  was  a  Transjuran  Burgundy 

*  Et  quoniara  gloria  patris  in  suorum  clarescit  moderamine  filiorum,  multos 
quos  Iq  Christo  filios  in  religions  creditur  habinsse  discipulos,  unius  tantum 
ejusdemque  famossissimi  castigata  brevitate  sufficiet  inseri  mentionem,  Patrieius 
ut  gestorum  ejnB  series  prodit  Hibernicae  peculiaris  apostolus  regionis  sanctis- 
simo  ei  discipulatui  octodecim  acidictus  anais  non  mediocrem  e  tanti  vena  fontis 
in  Scripturis  coelestibus  hausit  eruditionem  ...  ad  Sanctum  Coelestinum  urbis 
Romas  papam  per  Segetium  presbyterum  suum  eum  direxit  .  .  .  Cujus  Judicio 
approbatus  auetoritate  fultus,  benedictione  denique  roboratus  Hiberniai  partes 
expetiit.— ^c.'a  SS.  Boll,  vol.  34,  p.  270,  ed.  18GS,  July  3Ist. 

It  is  right  to  state  that  in  an  earlier  life  by  Coustantius  about  A.D.  488  no 
mention  is  made  of  St.  Patrick,  but  this  negative  evidence  is  not  of  much 
weight. 

Eighteen  (Octodecim)  years  is  a  mistake  ;  probably  scribal. 

2  See  Irish  Tract  also,  which  ia  given  with  translation  in  "  Moraa's  Essays," 
p.  248. 


THE  COMING  OF  ST.  PATRICK.  149 

north  of  this.  And  later  there  was  the  province  of  Bur2:undy 
in  the  Kingdom  of  France,  in  the  north  of  which  was  situated 
Auserre,  107  miles  S.E.  of  Paris.  The  Scholiast  has  also  a 
Scholium  on  "  La  German  andes  in  descairt  Letlia  (with 
Germanus  in  the  south,  in  the  southern  partof  Letha),  which  is 
important: — "Letha,  i.e.,  Latium,  which  is  also  called  Italy. 
Howbeit  Germanus  was  in  the  Gauls,  as  Beda  says  ;  Lethaig, 
(Letevians)  that  is  in  latitudine,  in  the  South  of  Gaul,  by 
the  Tyrrhene  Sea."^  This  seems  to  imply  that  the  Lethaig, 
or  Letavia  and  Italia,  were  each  south  of  the  Gauls  by  the 
Tyrrhene  Sea,  in  his  view. 

The  Cymri,  in  their  dialect  called  Brittany  Llydaw,  which 
Geoffrey  of  Monmouth  rendered  in  Latin,  Letavia.  It  means 
"  litorale  "  (coast-land),  and  it  may  be  connected  with  "  litus." 
It  was,  no  doubt,  originally  co-extensive  with  Armorica, 
though,  at  a  later  period,  after  the  immigration  of  the  Britons 
the  name  was  usually  applied  in  a  restricted  sense.  It  is  to 
be  further  observed  that  the  name  of  the  river  Lys,  on  which 
Taruanna  stood,  was  Letia,  which  is  nearer  in  sound  to  Letha 
than  either  Latium  or  Letavia. 

The  author  of  the  first  part  of  Fiacc's  Hymn  in  the  eighth 
century  intends  to  follow  the  Confession,  and,  no  doubt,  was 
icquainted  with  the  Life  by  Muirchu.  He  says : — "  Gennair 
Patraice  innemthur,  ised  adfet  hiscelaib,"  (Patrick  was  born  in 
Nemthur,  'tis  this  he  tells  us  in  his  books).  These  books  were 
the  Confession  and  the  Ej^istle,  to  Coroticus,  which  are  styled 
the  Libri  Patricii  in  our  texts.  Adfet  used  to  be  translated 
"as  is  told,"  but  the  true  meaning  is  "as  he  says,"  which 
corresponds  to  Muirchu's  "  ut  ipse  ait." 

This  Nemthur  appears  in  most  if  not  in  all  the  subsequent 
lives.  We  suggest  that  "genair  in  Nemthur  "  = -Ma^us  est  ad 
Taberniam.  Thur  or  Tor  would  thus  represent  Taber,  and 
Nem  would  represent  niam,  the  word  being  arranged  Nemthur 
to  meet  the  exigencies  of  the  metre.  We  are  not,  however, 
dependent  on  linguistic  considerations  such  as  these  alone  to 
prove  that  "  Tabernia"  represents  Taruanna.  No  higher 
authority  on  this  point  could  be  cited  than  M.  Desjardins,  the 

2  Trip.  Life,  p.  418. 

Kellesch,  Spvachen  Ersch.,  S.  143.     •«- 

Indogermanische  Forschungen,  iv.,  85  (Thurnespen). 


150  EARLY   IRISH   EISTORY. 

author  of  the  "  Geography  of  Roman  Gaul,"  and  the 
"  Geography  of  Gaul  after  the  Table  of  Peutinger,"  a  magnifi- 
cent edition  of  which  he  edited  (1874).  In  the  last-mentioned 
work  he  gives  (1)  a  summary  or  abstract  of  the  names  that 
appear  in  the  Table  of  Peutinger,  and  (2)  an  abstract  of  the 
transformations  or  variants  these  names  underwent  during  the 
Middle  Ages,  as  he  found  them  written  "  in  ancient  authors 
and  inscriptions  and  on  medals." — (p.  xvii.) 

In  the  Geography  of  Roman  Gaul  he  tells  us  (ii.  489) 
"  The  Morini,  rendered  less  barbarous,  no  doubt,  by  the  inter- 
course the  Portus  Iccius  (Boulogne)  procured  them,  must  have 
had  at  a  remote  epoch  '  a  centre '  at  Tarvanna  (Therouanne) 
which  became  their  '  chef  lieu  de  cite  under  the  Romans.' 
In  the  Historical  Introduction  and  the  Geography,  according 
to  the  Table  of  Peutinger  (86),  he  gives  the  transformations 
or  variants  of  the  name  Tarvanna,  i.e.,  Therouanne  on  the 
Lys.  '  The  variants  of  the  name  he  states  thus,  Teruenna, 
Taverna,  Teruentia."  Now  Taverna  =  Taberna  or  Tabernia, 
the  word  we  find  in  the  text  of  the  Confession.  It  is  also  = 
Tauerna,  which  we  have  suggested  was  the  Gaelic  pronuncia- 
tion of  Tabernia.  And  this  brings  us  back  to  the  linguistic 
point  from  which  we  started — to  cop  AbAnn,  the  fenced  town  or 
buttery  of  the  river  Lys. 

The  Scholiast  on  Fiacc  finds  it  necessary  to  tell  his  readers 
where  Nemthur  is  situate,  "  In  Nemthor,  that  is  a  city  which  is 
in  North  Britain — namely,  Ail  Cluade(Rock  of  Clyde)."  There 
is  no  evidence  whatever  that  Ail  Cluade,  now  Dumbarton,  was 
ever  known  as  Nem-Thor.  It  was  known  as  "Oun-tDficAin,  i.e., 
the  Fort  of  the  Britons  of  Strathclyde.  There  were  neither 
decurions.  Christians  in  thousands,  or  priests  there  at  the  end 
of  the  fourth  century.  The  following  extract  from  the  Edin- 
burgh Review  accurately  represents  the  latest  and  best  opinion 
on  the  Roman  occupation  of  Scotland  : — 

In  124  Hadrian,  who  loved  strong  frontiers,  fortified  the  isthmus 
between  the  Tyne  and  Solway,  and  declared  the  Roman  advance  to  be 
ended.  Twenty  years  later  Antoninus  Pius  built  a  second  wall  across 
the  isthmus  between  the  Forth  and  the  Clyde,^  still  surviving  in  broken 
fragments.     But  the  Roman  occupation  of  Scotland  was  limited,  it  was 

*  Ail  Cluade  is  at  this  northern  wall,  which  runs  north  of,  and  near  to,  the 
river  Clyde.     See  Haverfield's  map,  Britannia  (1900). 


THE  COMING   OF   ST.    PATRICK.  151 

purely  military.  It  hardly  lasted  forty  years.  Recent  investigations 
into  the  inscriptions,  coins,  and  other  remains  of  Roman  origin  found 
in  Scotland  show  that  all  the  land  north  of  the  Cheviots  was  lost  to 
Rome  before  the  end  of  the  second  century.  From  henceforward  the 
Roman  frontier  was  Hadrian's  Wall,  with  outlying  forts  at  one  or  two 
places  like  Birens  and  Rochester,  commanding  the  easiest  passes  into 
Caledonia. 

The  land  immediately  south  of  the  wall  as  far  as  the  hills  extend 
was  a  purely  military  district.  Throughout  Cumberland,  Westmore 
land  and  Lancashire,  on  the  west  coast,  and  the  North  and  "West 
Ridings  on  the  east  coast,  we  meet  no  traces  of  orderly  civil  life,  of 
towns  or  villas,  of  trade  or  commerce,  in  Roman  days.  The  Italian  city 
system  did  not  spread  in  Britain.  Its  characteristic  was  a  self-govern- 
ing municipality.  There  was  a  senate,  elected  magistrature,  and  a 
body  of  electing  towns-people,  -who  all  enjoyed  the  rights  of  Roman 
citizens ;  there  was  besides  a  dependent  territory,  which  might  be  fifty 
miles  across.  Towns  of  this  kind  bore  the  title  of  Colonia  or  Muni- 
cipium,  and  were  freelj'  planted  at  various  epochs  in  the  western 
provinces  of  the  empire.  They  appear  in  every  province  where  the 
higher  civilisations  of  Rome  found. entrance.  They  mark  its  advent, 
they  assist  in  its  expansion.  Britain  could  boast  of  only  five — 
Verulamium,  just  outside  St.  Albans;  Camulodunum,  now  Colchester  j 
Lincoln,  York;  and  Glesum,  now  Gloucester.* 

We  have"  now  exhausted  the  space  at  our  disposal  for  this 
part  of  our  subject,  and  we  fear  that  in  addition  we  have 
exhausted  the  patience  of  our  readers.  We  regret  that  we  can- 
not notice  in  detail  the  views  of  Cardinal  Moran,  Lanigan, 
Stokes,  Todd,  Cashel  Hoey,  Malone,  Olden,  Barry,  Morris, 
Bury,  Archbishop  Healy,  and  many  others  ;  but  we  are  con- 
strained to  abstain  from  controversy. 

There  are  three  tests  our  readers  can  apply  to  each  sug- 
gested birthplace:  (1)  Were  there  several  thousand  adult 
Christians  with  many  priests  there  ?  (2)  Were  there  decurions 
there  ?  (3)  Would  an  ordinary  voyage  from  Erin  to  it  take 
three  days  ? 

St.  Patrick  does  not  tell  us  how  long  he  was  in  the  islands 
of  the  Tyrrhene  Sea. 

After  a  few  years  (he  says)  I  was  again  amongst  the  Britons  with 
my  relatives,  who  received  me  as  a  son,  and  in  all  sincerity  entreated 
me  that  even  now,  after  such  great  suflerings  as  I  had  endured,  I  would 

*  "Roman  Britain,"  Edinburgh  Review,  vol.  189  (1899),  p,  360.  See 
ftlso  Mr.  Haverfield's  map,  and  succinct  account  of  Roman  Britain  in  Poole's 
"  Historical  Atlas,"  plate  xv.  (1896,  etc).  The  views  in  both  are  in  substantial 
agreement. 


152  EAKLY   IRISH   HISTORY. 

never  leave  them,  and  there  even  in  the  very  bosom  of  the  ulght  I  saw 
a  man  namsd  Victoricus  coming  as  it  were  from  Hibernia  with 
innumerable  letters,  and  he  gave  me  one  of  them.  And  I  read  the 
beginning  of  the  letter  containing  "  The  voice  of  the  Irish, "  and  while 
I  was  reading  aloud  the  beginning  of  the  letter,  I  myself  thought, 
indeed,  in  my  mind  that  I  heard  the  voice  of  those  who  were  near  the 
wood  of  Foclat,  which  is  close  by  the  Western  Sea.  And  they  cried 
out :  "  We  entreat  thee,  holy  youth,  that  thou  come  and  walk  still 
{adkuc)  amongst  us."  And  I  was  deeply  moved  in  heart,  and  could 
read  no  further,  and  so  I  awoke. 

The  words  in  the  text  are  ad  hue  anihulas  inter  nos.  The 
meaning  attached  to  ad  hue  here  is  important.  It  repre- 
sents continuing  action  in  a  context  like  the  present,  and 
means  "stili."  We  suggest  that  our  saint  knew  the  voice  of 
the  children  by  the  wood  of  Foclat  because  he  heard  it  before 
near  Killala  in  Mayo,  where  he  took  ship  for  France.  This 
supports  the  view  we  have  already  presented.  Victoricus,  the 
name  of  the  man  who  came  with  the  letters,  was  also,  as  we 
have  seen,  the  name  of  the  apostle  of  the  Morini  who  suffered 
a.t  Amiens  in  A.D.  303,  and  now  announced  his  name  to  St. 
Patrick  to  support  the  petition  of  the  children.  In  the  Con- 
fession the  Saint  speaks  only  of  Victoricus  once,  viz.,  at  this 
place.  He  does  not  mention  Victor  at  all.  In  the  Armagh 
text  of  Muirchu,  Victor  is  the  name  given  to  the  angel  who 
frequently  visited  the  saint.  The  Brussels  text,  however,  has 
both  Victoricus  and  Victor.  Victor  and  Victoricus  came  to  be 
regarded  as  one  angel,  and  from  the  time  of  Tirechan  Victor 
was,  according  to  the  tradition  of  the  Church,  the  Guardian 
Angel  of  our  apostle.  The  Scholiast  to  Fiacc  goes  further  and 
says,  what  we  do  not  find  stated  elsewhere,  that  St.  Victor 
"  was  the  common  angel  of  the  Scottic  race.  As  Michael  was 
the  angel  of  the  race  of  the  Hebrews,^  so  Victor  was  of  the 
Scots.     Hence  he  took  care  of  them  through  Patrick." 

A  more  difficult  question  to  answer  is  who  and  where  were 
the  Britons  amongst  whom  were  the  relatives  of  the  saint. 
Loth  fixes  the  commencement  of  the  emigration  of  the  Britons 
into  Brittany  between  430  and  440  a.d."  '  Le  Moyne  de  la 
Broderie  fixes  the  date  of  the  establishment  of  the  immisfrants 


'C 


«  Trip.  Life,  415,  refers  to  Daniel,  x.  21,  xii.,  J,  also  p.  425. 
»  Rev.  Celt,  sxii.  (1901)  84. 


THE   COMING   OF   ST.    PATRICK.  153 

at  460  A.D.,8  which  corresponds  with  the  date  assigned  by 
Lobinau,  45S  A.D.^  These  immigrants  cannot  be  the  Britons 
referred  to.  There  were,  however,  Britons  further  north,  a 
remnant,  probably,  of  the  Britanni  who  passed  into  Britain, 
and  have  left  traces  on  the  Continent  from  the  Elbe  to  the 
Channel.  In  the  time  of  Pliny  they  were  mentioned  as  a  tribe 
of,  or  at  least,  as  adjacent  to,  the  Morini,  and  there  is  still  a 
hamlet  near  Etaples  called  Bretagne.^*' 

The  editors  of  the  Delphin  edition  of  Pliny  say  in  a  note  : 
"  The  Britons  certainly  occupied  the  territory  in  which  are  now 
the  towns  of  Etaples,  Montreuil,  Hesdin,  and  Ponthieu,  to  the 
river  Somme  ;  and  if  credit  is  to  be  given  to  the  author  of 
the  "Libellus  Provinciarum  Romanarum "  were  part  of  the 
Morini."  ^^  They  were  thus  placed  very  close  to  the  Letia  (Lys) 
the  great  trade  route  on  which  Taruanna  was  situated.  Tho 
scholiast  on  Fiacc  represents  the  saint  as  going  from  Ail  Cluade 
with  his  father  "  on  a  journey  to  the  Britons  of  Armuire 
Letha,"  i.e.,  "  co  Bretnaib  Ledach,"  for  there  were  relatives 
of  theirs  there  at  that  time.  The  Letia  would  be  adequately 
represented  in -Gaelic  by  "Letha."  Letavia  as  a  name  for 
Brittany  did  not  then  exist,  and  there  seems  to  be  no  reason 
why  the  word  should  not  be  applied  to  the  Britons  near  the 
river  Letia.^^  The  scholiast,  after  stating  that  the  saint  was 
born  at  Ail  Cluade,  says  that  he  was  captured  whilst  with  his 
relatives  in  Armuire  Letha,  in  France.^^  Our  view  is  that  he 
was  born  in  this  territory.  The  old  Roman  Breviary  describes 
him  as  "  genere  Brito."  The  Breviary  of  Rheims,  "  In  maritimo 
Britannise  territorio."  The  Breviary  of  Rouen,  "  In  Britannia 
Gallicana."  Now,  the  only  Britannia  Gallicana  that  existed 
at  the  time  of  his  birth  was  that  above  mentioned. 

The   beginning   of  the  fifth    century  witnessed  the  birth 
of   a    formidable   heresy,    all   the   more    dangerous  because 


•  Histoire  de  Bretagne  (1896),  t.  I.  2t8. 
9  Histoire  de  Bretagne,  t.  I.-l.  I.   1.  (1707). 

^"  Rogetde  Belloquet,  Ethnogenie  Celtique,  types  Gaulois,  p.  79  note  (1861). 
"  Pliny,  "  Deinde  Menapii,  Morini  (Therouanne),    Oromansaci,  juncti    pago 
4ui  Gessoriacus  (Boulogne),  vocatur,   Britanni,   Ambiani  (Amiens),  Bellovasci  " 
(Beauvais),  N.H.  IV.  c.  31.     The  Britanni  occupy,  seemingly,  a  central  position 
between  Therouanne,  Boulogne,  Amiens  and  Beauvais. 
1-  For  Letia  see  Valesius  Notitia  Galltarum  sub  voce 
w  Trip.  Life,  413. 


154  EARLY   IRISH   HISTORY. 

it  was  intellectual,  having  its  origin  in  a  perplexed  and 
obscure  philosophy.  Pelagius,  the  founder  of  it,  was, 
probably,  born  in  Britain,  of  Scottic  parents.  St.  Augustine, 
Orosius,  and  Prosper  call  him  a  "  Briton."  St.  Jerome,  without 
directly  naming  him,  refers  to  him  as  most  stupid,  weighed 
down  with  Scottic  porridge.^*  And,  again,  as  follows  : — 
"And  Grunnius  (i.e.,  Rufinus)  himself  being  mute,  he  barks  by 
the  dog  Albinus  (i.e.,  Pelagius),  tall  and  big-boned,  whose  kick 
is  worse  than  his  bite,  for  he  has  parentage  from  the  Scottic 
race  from  the  neighbourhood  of  the  Britons.  Like  (another) 
Cerberus,  according  to  the  fables  of  the  poets,  he  must  be  struck 
down  with  a  spiritual  club  that  he  may  be  silent  with  an 
eternal  silence,  like  his  master  Pluto  {i.e.,  Rufinus,  who  was 
then  dead)."  ^^  It  is  not  easy  to  find  out  here  where  the  rhetoric 
ends  and  the  facts  begin.  It  was  fortunate  for  the  Church  that 
all  our  saints  had  not  the  same  command  of  lansfuasre  as  that 
illustrious  scholar.  St.  Augustine,  who  knew  Pelagius  per- 
sonally, presents  a  different  estimate,  and  writes — "  Pelagius 
whilst  staying  at  Rome  was  held  in  great  honour,  and  was 
loved  by  Paulinus  of  Nola  as  a  servant  of  God,  and  I  not  only 
did  love  him  but  do  love  him,  though  now  with  a  desire  that 
he  may  be  delivered  from  sentiments  adverse  to  the  grace  of 
God."  The  principal  errors  of  the  Pelagians  were  the  denial 
of  the  necessity  for  grace  and  the  denial  of  the  transmission  of 
sin  from  the  Fall  of  Adam.      It  was  to  refute  these  views  that 


1*  Stolidissimus  et  Scottorum  pultibus  prasgravatus, 

^^  Ipseque  mutus  latrat  per  Albinum  canem,  grendem  et  corpulentum,  et  qui 
calcibu3  ma'2;i3  possit  sasvire  quam  deatibus  ;  habet  enim  progeaiem  Scoticfe 
gentis  de  Britannorura  vicinia ;  qui  juxta  fabulas  poetarutn,  insfcar  Cerberi 
spirituali  percutiendus  est  clava,  ut  Eeterno  cum  suo  magistro  Plutone  silentio 
conticescat.     Verum  hoc  alias. — Migne  24,  758. 

Oro3ius  says  he  was  a  man  "  largis  humeris,  crasso  collo,  et  praegrandi 
vultu.'  ■ 

Todd  misses  the  vis  consiqueniiae  here.  Life  St.  Patrick  190.  It  is 
to  be  found  in  the  allusion  to  "  hoofs  "  !  (Calcibus)  !  The  vis  comicci  ia 
ambushed  with  Attic  sparkle  in  "  hoofs." 

Its  proper  pow'r  to  hurt  each  creature  feals, 
Bulls  aim  their  horns,  and  Asses  lift  their  heels. 
'Tis  a  boar's  talent  not  to  kick  but  hug. 
And  no  man  wonders  he's  not  stung  by  Pug. 


THE  COMING  OF  ST.  PATRICK.  155 

St.  Augustine  wrote  many  works,  commencing  with  one  on 
"  Forgiveness  of  Sins  and  Baptism,"  in  412 — an  important  date, 
as  we  shall  see  hereafter. 

This  controversy  led  up  a  few  years  later  to  semi- 
Pelagianism,  in  which  Cassian  became,  or  was  supposed  to  be, 
involved,  owing  to  some  expressions  in  his  13th  Conference, 
which  are  somewhat  ambiguous,  and  may,  at  the  worst,  have 
represented  a  passing  phase  of  thought.  He  was  certainly 
regarded  as  orthodox  in  430;,  as  in  that  year,  on  an  appeal  from 
Rome,  he  wrote  the  De  Incarnatione  to  refute  the  Nestorians, 
and  would  in  all  probability  have  found  no  difficulty  in  accept- 
ing the  doctrine  settled  at  the  Council  of  Orange  in  529,  which 
condemned  semi-Pelagianisra,  whilst  declaring  that  predesti- 
nation to  evil  was  not  to  be  taught. 

The  semi-Pelagians  believed  in  the  doctrine  of  the  fall  of 
man  and  acknowledged  the  necessity  of  real  grace  to  man's 
restoration.  They  even  admitted  that  this  grace  must  be 
"  prevenient "  to  such  acts  of  will  as  resulted  in  Christian 
good  works.  But-some  of  them  thought — and  herein  consisted 
the  error  called  semi-Pelagian — that  nature  unaided  could  take 
the  first  step  towards  its  recovery  by  desiring  to  be  healed 
through  faith  in  Christ.  The  denial  of  the  necessity  of 
initial  grace  opened  a  door  to  Pelagianism,  and  endangered 
the  doctrine  of  the  Redemption  which  lay  at  the  very  root  of 
Christianity.  This  explanation  is  necessary  to  enable  our 
readers  to  understand  the  views  we  shall  present  as  to  the 
Confession  of  St.  Patrick,  who  must  have  been  familiar  with 
the  details  of  this  controversy. 

In  the  third  decade  of  the  fifth  century  the  Pelagian  move- 
menthad  spread  widely,  had  developed  a  particularly  dangerous 
energy  in  Wales,  and  threatened  to  move  Westwards  to  taint 
the  beginnings  of  the  faith  in  Ireland,  where  the  Church  was 
still  in  its  infancy.  The  situation  was  grave,  and  manifestly 
called  for  energetic  action  on  the  part  of  the  ecclesiastical 
authorities  at  Rome.  Celestine  was  then  Pope  (422-432).  Leo 
the  Great  was  then  Archdeacon.    Palladius  was  then  a  deacon. 

Prosper  has  the  following  entry  in  his  Chronicle : — 

429  A.D. — Agricola,  a  Pelagian,  the  son  of  Severianus,  a  Pelagian 
bishop,  corrupted  the  British  Church  by  the  publication  Oi  his  dogmas  ; 
but   on   the   action   of   the   deacon   Palladius,   Pope   Coelestine    sent 


156  EARLY   IRISH   HISTORY. 

Germanus,  the  bishop  of  Auxerre,  as  his  representative ;  and,  dislodg- 
ing the  heretics,  put  the  Britons  on  the  straight  path  of  the  Catholic 

Faitb.^* 


Prosper  went  on  a  mission  to  Pope  Celestine  in  431,  and 
was  afterwards  secretary  to  Leo  the  Great.  The  last  entry  in 
his  Chronicle  is  under  the  date  455.  The  deacon  Palladius, 
he  tells  us  further,  "  was  sent  to  the  Scots  believingr  in 
Christ,^^  the  first  bishop  (who  was  sent)."  This  entry  is  under 
date  431,  the  year  in  which  the  (Ecumenical  Council  was  held 
at  Ephesus.  We  see  from  these  entries  that  Rome  was  very 
attentive,  at  that  time,  to  what  was  passing  in  the  Western 
end  of  the  world.  According  to  Constantius,  a  monk  of 
Lyons,  who  wrote  a  life  of  Germanus  within  about  40  years 
after  his  death,  Germanus  and  Lupus  were  selected  at  a 
synod  of  the  bishops  of  Gaul,  which  is  not  inconsistent  with 
the  statement  of  Prosper.  Constantius  adds  that  the  Britons 
came  in  crowds  every  day  to  hear  the  apostolic  bishops,  and 
the  divine  word  was  spread  abroad,  not  only  in  the  churches, 
but  in  the  streets,  in  the  fields,  and  in  the  bye-ways,  so  that 
the  Catholics  were  everywhere  confirmed  in  the  faith,  and 
having  been  led  astray  recognised  the  way  of  amendment. ^^ 
From  this  some  writers  have  very  reasonably  inferred  that 
Germanus  and  Lupus  addressed  the  people  in  a  vernacular 


'8  Agricola  Pelagianus  Severiani  episcopi  Pelagian!  filius,  ecclesias  Brittaniae 
dogmatis  sui  insinuatione  (publication)  corrumpit,  sed  ad  insinuationem? 
[actionem]  Palladii  diaconi  papa  Cselestinus  Gernianum  Autissiodorensem  epis- 
copum  vice  sua  mittit  et  deturbatis  hereticis  Britannos  ad  Catholieam  fidem 
dirigiti 

Insinuatio,  then,  meant  putting  on  the  register  and  publishing. 
Mommsen  T.  Chron.  Min.  Mon.  Germ  torn,  ix.  page  472. 

Wilhelm  Levison  has  written  an  interesting  article  on  "  Bischof  Germanus 
von  Auxere,"  in  the  29th  vol.  of  the  Neues  Arch iv  der  Gesellsehaft  fur  iiltere 
deutsche  Gescbichtskunde — (1903).  Referring  to  Zimmer  be  observes  "  Desen 
ausfuhrungen  bei  allem  scharfsinn  bisweilen  durch  ein  ubermass  von  hypothesen 
beeintrachtigt  sind."  And  of  Pflug  Harting,  who  wrote  against  the  authenticity 
of  the  Confession  [Neue  Heidelberger  Jarhbusher  iii.  71]  he  says  :  "  Was  Pflug 
Hartung  gegen  die  Echteit  der  Confessio  und  Epistola  vorgebracht  hat  scheinc 
mir  nicht  genugend  zu  deren  Verwerfung." 

"  Ad  Scotos  in  Christum  credentes  ordinatus  a  papa  Celestino  Palladiu? 
primus  episcopus  mittitur. — Mommseu.  Chron,  Min.  i.  473. 

18  Et  cum  quotidie  irruente  frequentia  stiparentur  divinus  sermo  non  solum 
in  ecclesiis  verum  etiam  per  trivia,  per  rura,  per  devia  diSundebatur  ut  passim 
et  fide  Catholici  firmarentur  et  depravati  viam  correctionis  agnoscerent. — 
Vita,  19,  23  Stubbs'  Cc«C27.,  p  17. 


THE   COMING   OF   ST.    PATRICK.  157 


tongue.     This  conclusion  is  warranted,  if  the   testimony   of 
Constantius  on  this  point  can  be  relied  on. 

The  words  of  Prosper  deserve  close  examination.  Palladius 
was  sent  "  to  the  believers  "  after  the  Council  at  Ephesus  had 
condemned  Pelagius.  He  was  the  first  bishop  sent  to  them. 
Does  this  mean  that  he  was  to  be  bishop  of  the  Irish,  that  he 
was  sent  "  as  their  bishop  ? "  Prosper  does  not  say  so,  and 
we  venture  to  think  that  this  was  not  likely.  That  Palladius 
should  have  been  sent,  not  only  to  the  Scots,  but  to  the  western 
regions  infected  with  the  Pelagian  heresy,  to  declare  authori- 
tatively "a  latere,"  what  was  decided  at  the  Council  and  what 
were  the  final  views  of  Rome,  is  what  we  should  have  ex- 
pected. His  mission,  we  should  say,  was  primarily  to  the 
clergy.  Would  Rome  have  sent  him  to  the  U7ibelieving  Scots  to 
convert  them  ?  Would  it  have  sent  a  missionary  to  talk  to 
them  in  Latin  when  it  had  ready  to  its  hand  a  tried  and  trusted 
man  who  could  talk  to  the  Gaels  in  Gaelic  ? 

We  shall  now  lay  before  our  readers  the  substance  of  the  state- 
ments made  by  Malbrancq,  in  his  history  of  the  Morini,  on  this 
point.  The  Rev.  James  Malbrancq  was  born  at  St.  Omer  in  1579, 
was  received  into  the  Society  of  Jesus  in  1599,  and  died  at  Tour- 
nay  in  1653.  "  Malbrancq,"  says  M.  Denoyers,  a  high  authority 
on  ecclesiastical  antiquities,  in  an  article  on  the  ancient  diocese 
of  Therouanne,  "  devoted  his  life  to  the  study  of  the  Morini, 
visited  the  ecclesiastical  establishments  in  the  province,  and 
never  fails  to  indicate  the  authority  of  the  sources  to  be  con- 
sulted." ^^  There  existed  in  his  time  an  ancient  muniment 
which  has  since  been  lost — the  Chronicon  Morinense — which 
contained  an  abridged  narrative  of  the  ecclesiastical  events  and 
the  lives  of  the  bishops  of  the  diocese  of  Therouanne,  taken 
from  the  original  documents  preserved  in  the  archives.  It  was 
kept  in  the  chapter-house  of  the  bishopric  of  Ypres,  to  which 
it  had  been  carried  by  the  canons  of  Therouanne,  who  took 
refuge  in  that  town  after  the  destruction  of  the  capital  of  the 
Morini  in  1553  by  the  Emperor  Charles  the  Fifth.  Malbrancq 
had  before  him  the  Life  by  Probus,  and  asserts  in  the  26th 
chapter  of  the  De  Morinis,  that  St.  Patrick  belonged  for  some 
years  to  the  diocese  of  Therouanne,  as  "  the  MSS.,  and  the 

"  Soctete  d'Histoire  de  France.     Annuaire  for  1863,  p.  627. 


158  EARLY   IRISH   HISTORY. 

Catalogues  of  the  Bishops  of  this  diocese,  and  the  Life  of  St. 
Arnulph,  of  Soissons,  testify."  ^^ 

In  the  Catalogue  of  the  Bishops — and  this  is  the  all- 
important  fact — he  found  the  name  of  St.  Patrick  not  included 
in  the  direct  line,  but  inserted  at  the  side  in  the  Catalos-ue  " 
He  was  an  adlatus,  or  assistant  bishop,  and  so  properly  placed 
at  the  side  {adlatus),  and  not  in  the  direct  line  of  the  bishops. 
"  He  was  not  wedded  to  the  Church  (of  the  Morini),"  adds 
Malbrancq,  "  since  he  was  already  betrothed  to  the  Church 
over  the  Sea  (of  Erin)."  21 

He  was  placed  by  Germanus  amongst  the  Morini,  because 
his  assistance  was  required  there  at  the  time,  and  he  could 
easily  pass  over  thence  to  the  Irish,  when  the  time  was  ripe 
for  missionary  action  there.  A  recent  writer  of  great 
authority  on  the  Registers  of  Therouanne,  observes — "  On  the 
authority  of  the  Catalogue,  the  most  ancient  and  authentic, 
of  the  bishops  of  the  Morini,  it  must  be  admitted  that  there 
was  no  duly  constituted  bishop  {titulaire,  a  technical  word) 
before  Antimond  (501  A.D.?)  and  we  cannot  regard  as  suffragans 
(a  technical  word)  the  holy  bishops  missionary  and  regionary 
from  the  third  to  the  sixth  century,  who  evangelized  large  parts 
of  this  vast  country  of  the  Morini.  St.  Lieven,  for  instance,  landed 
there  from  Ireland,  and  suffered  martyrdom  in  647,  on  his  way 
to  Flanders  and  Brabant.  As  to  St.  Patrick,  consecratedbishop 
by  Pope  Celestine  a  short  time  before  his  mission  to  Ireland  in 
432,  he  may  have  traversed  the  Morini,  and  evangelized  it  on 
his  way,  but  it  was  not  with  the  titulus  (title)  of  suffragan 
bishop.  See  the  Dissertation  of  Malbrancq,  De  Movinis,  I., 
622-624.22 

This  we  have  already  referred  to.  The  learned  Abb6  thus 
adopts  and  corroborates,  with  some  necessary  technical 
qualitications,  the  statements  of  Malbrancq. 

2"  Patricium  quern  etsi  ut  suum  suspiciat  et  vindicefc  Hibernia,  Morinoa 
tamen  etiam  aliquot  annis  posse  amplecti,  et  M8S.  et  Episcoporum  hujus 
Dioeceseos  Catalogi,  et  S.  Aruulphi  Sues-ioaeasis  vita  abunde  testaiitur. — 
Malbrancq  L>e  Morinis  torn.  1.,  c.  2Q,  pp.  168-171.     Tornaei  Nerviorum,  1639. 

21  Patric.ius  ad  Morinos  quidem  accessit  episcopus  sed  non  earn  sibi  despon- 
savit  ecclesiam,  cum  transmarina  addicta  esset  in  sponsam  ;  idcirco  Catalogi 
Episcoporum  Morinensium  non  eum  recta  mcluduat  seriese  d  ad  latus  adseiscunt 
episcopuin. — Ibid. 

2s  Bled  O.,  Abb6, — Registeres  de3  ev^aues  de  Thei-ouaQne  p.  7,  v.  35.  (1902). 


THE   COMING   OF   ST.    PATKICK,  159 

It  is  to  this  period,  thfc  exact  length  of  which  cannot  be 
stated,  perhaps  a  year  or  two  only,  that,  in  our  opinion 
the  part  of  the  epistle  to  Coroticus  which  is  genuine  must 
be  assigned.  Coroticus  was  probably  a  robber  chief  over 
a  predatory  people  on  the  border  of  the  Morini  who  were  at 
least  nominally  Christians,  and  the  fellow-citizens  (Roman)  of 
our  saint.  In  one  of  his  forays  at  Easter  time,  when  the 
baptisms  took  place  at  that  period,  he  carried  off  numbers  of 
the  newly-baptised,  and  our  saint  appealed,  not  so  much  to  him, 
as  to  such  faith  as  existed  in  his  lawless  fellow-citizens.  Most 
of  the  present  text  of  the  epistle  is,  in  our  opinion,  a  later 
addition.  We  cannot,  however,'pursue  the  matter  further  here.'^-^ 

When  Germanus  arrived  at  Boulogne  with  Lupus  in  429 
his  first  thought  was  to  take  our  apostle  with  them.  But  on 
considering  the  matter  with  Lupus,  they  decided  that  he 
should  remain  there  for  some  time  longer  until  the  Pelagian 
troubles  had  been  disposed  of.  This  is  Malbrancq's  view  which 
appears  to  be  very  reasonable.  We  cannot  conceive  it  possible 
that  the  priests  at  Therouanne  would  falsify  their  records  by 
inserting  the  name  of  St.  Patrick.  The  statement  in  the  life 
of  St.  Arnulph,  though  entitled  to  some  weight,  is  of  secondary 
importance,  as  it  probably  represents  only  a  tradition. 
Malbrancq  has  it  that  St.  Patrick  was  consecrated  by  Pope 
Celestine  bishop  for  the  Irish,  and  that  his  ordination  and 
mission,  in  conjunction  with  the  work  of  Germanus  in  Britain, 
was  part  of  the  campaign  against  Pelagianism  in  the  West.  If 
his  view  be  right,  Palladius  was  not  appointed  bishop  for  the 
Irish.  There  could  not  be  two  co-ordinate  bishops  for  one 
diocese,  and  at  that  time,  if  we  remember  rightly,  a  bishop 
could  not  desert  his  espoused  church,  even  to  become  bishop 
of  Rome  itself.  Muirchu  says  Palladius  did  not  wish  "  to 
spend  time  in  a  land  which  was  not  his  own."  This,  we  make 
no  doubt  is  quite  true.  Muirchu  says  he  was  sent  to  convert 
the  Irish,  but  being  wild  and  rough  they  did  not  easily  receive 
his  teaching,  so  he  crossed  the  first  sea  on  his  way  home  and 
died  among  the  Britons.^* 

^  The  Patrician  Docainents  will  be  the  subject  of  the  next  chapter. 

^  Neque  et  ipse  voluit  transigere  tempus  in  terra  non  sua,  sed  reversus  ad 
©um  qui  misit  ilium.  Revertente  vern  eo  hinc  et  primo  mari  transito  coeptoque 
terrarum  itinere  in  Britonum  iinibus  vita  functus — Muirchu.  Aualec.  Boll.,  I.  553. 

Insulam  sub  Crumali  rigore  positam. — Trip.  Life,  II..S.,  i.'72. 


160  EARLY   IRISH   HISTORY. 

There  can  be  very  little  doubt,  if  his  life  had  been  spared, 
he  would  have  used  his  best  endeavours  to  compose  matters 
there,  and  the  Pelagian  trouble  might  not  have  broken  out 
afresh,  requiring  a  second  visit  from  Germanus  thirteen  years 
later. 

Malbrancq's  views  found  no  acceptance  with  the  Bollandist 
editor,  Papebroche.  He  had  constructed  a  wonderful  chrono- 
taxis — an  arrangement  of  the  life  by  years,  giving  time  and 
place  for  everything.  Malbrancq's  views  did  not  agree  with 
that  chronotaxis,  consequently  his  views  were  wrong.  The 
Catalogue  of  the  bishops  was,  it  was  suggested,  suppositious; 
and  the  life  of  Arnulph,  according  to  the  copy  in  his  posses- 
sion, said  nothing^  about  St.  Patrick.  But  there  was  a  life  a 
few  miles  ofl'  at  Ypres  that  did  so  refer  to  St.  Patrick,  and  the 
Catalogue  of  the  bishops  was  there  for  all  men  to  see;  and 
Malbrancq,  who  published  the  De  Morinis  in  1629,  was  alive, 
at  Tournay,  within  easy  reach  of  Antwerp,  where  the  publica- 
tion of  the  ^cfa  Sanctoi^um  commenced  in  1643,  and  he  lived 
for  ten  years  longer.  Papebroche  playfully  suggests  that  in 
his  anxiety  to  exalt  the  name  of  his  native  land  he  disregarded 
the  lawful  claims  of  his  neighbours.  Surely  then  was  the 
time  to  bring  him  to  trial  and  compel  him  to  prove  his  inno- 
cence. Papebroche  forebore  from  doing  so.  He  adds,  how- 
ever, in  mitigation  of  Malbrancq's  lapse  from  virtue  :  "  If 
Malbrancq  had  read  my  chronotaxis  he  would  have  omitted 
his  twenty-sixth  chapter."-^  We  are  of  opinion  that  the 
perusal  of  that  Wahres  Curiosum  would  have  had  no  such 
result. 

Further,  we  submit  that  St.  Patrick  is  the  unnamed  bishop 
referred  to  in  the  following  extract  from  Prosper,  which  is 
found  in  the  "  Contra  Collatorem,"  a  treatise  written  by 
Prosper  against  the  semi-Pelagianism  imputed  to  Cassian. 


Wherefore  also  the  Pontiff  Celestine  (+  Ap.  28th,  432),  of  vener- 
able memory,  commanded  Celestius  (a  disciple  of  Pelagius)to  be  driven 
from  the  borders  of  all  Italy  .  .  ..  and  with  no  less  zealous  care 
he  delivered  the  Brittaiiias  from  the  same  disease,  when  he  drove  from 
that  secluded  place  on  the  Ocean  some  enemies  of  grace  who  were  settling 


25  Acta  SS.  viii.,  526  (Ed.  1865). 


THE    COMING    OF   ST.    PATRICK,  161 

in  the  soil  of  their  origin,  and  by  ordaining  a  bishop  for  the  Scots, 
whilst  he  laboured  to  keep  the  Roman  Island  Catholic,  made  also  the 
barbarous  island  Cliristian.^'^ 

This  work  consists  of  an  examination  of  the  13th  Collation 
of  Cassian,  a  discourse  of  the  Abbot  Chaeromon  on  the  Protec- 
tion of  God.  At  the  conclusion  Prosper  expresses  a  hope  that 
the  doctrines  therein  may  be  condemned  by  Pope  Sixtus  (4;>2- 
440)  as  they  had  been  condemned  by  Celestine,  his  predecessor. 

From  this  it  is  clear  that  it  was  written  after  the  death  of 
Pope  Celestine  and  during  the  Pontificate  of  Sixtus,  i.e., 
between  432  and  440,  and  there  is  nothing  except  conjecture 
to  fix  on  any  particular  year  within  these  limits. 

Prosper  says  it  is  twenty  years  and  more  (et  amplius)  since 
the  fio-ht  besran,  that  is  since  412,  when  St.  Augustine 
published  the  "  De  Peccatorum  Mentis  "  his  first  anti-Pelagian 
treatise.  On  this  ground  Holder,  Egger,  and  Hacuck  suggest 
433  or  434  as  the  date  of  publication  of  Prosper's  Contra  Col- 
latorem,  ^  whilst  Zimmer  says  437.  If  the  bishop  ordained  was 
Palladius,  Prosper  would  have  named  him  as  he  did  on  two 
other  occasions  in  his  Chronicon.  If  Palladius  was  sent  to 
convert  the  unbelieving  Irish,  he  failed,  and  Prosper  would  not 
have  ventured  to  make  a  statement  notoriously  contrary  to  the 
facts,  which  was  certain  to  be  challenged  at  once  by  vigilant 
adversaries.  The  statement,  moreover,  it  should  be  added,  is 
found  in  the  21st  chapter,  inserted  apparently  at  the  last 
moment,  as  the  work  is  summarised,  and  virtually  concluded, 
in  the  19th.-^  Before  this  the  news  of  the  conversion  of 
Laeghaire  had  reached  Prosper. 

The  bishop  then  who  was  sent "  to  the  Scots  "  (ad  Scotos)  is 
different  from  the  bishop  sent  "  for  the  Scots  "  (Scotis)and  the 


^  Code  et  -venerabilis  memoriffi  Poiitifex  Celestinus  Ccelestium  totius 
Italise  finibus  jussit  extrudi  nee  vero  segniori  cura  ab  hoc  eodem  morbo  Brit- 
tanias  liberavit,  quando  quosdam  inimicos  gratia;,  solum  suae  originis  occupantes, 
etiain  ab  illo  secreto  exclusit  Oceatii  ;  et  ordinato  Scotis  episcopo,  dum 
Roraanam  insulam  studet  servare  Catholicam  fecit  etiain  barbaram  Christianam. 
—Prosper  Tiro.  "  Contra  Collatorem." — Migae,  Tom.  51,  p.  271. 

^  The  Collatio  was  a  conference  or  discourse  on  spiritual  matters  amone;st 
religious  by  way  of  question  and  answer,  "  by  which  method  doubts  were 
dispelled  and  truth  made  clear." — Migne  51,  p.  573, 

28  Neucs  Archiv.  (Eerier).  Real.  Encyclopedie  ^Hacuck). 

Celtic  Church  (Zimmer). 


162  EARLY    IRISH    HISTORY, 

latter  was  none  other  than  St.  Patrick.     Palladius  was  sent  to 
the  "believers,"  St.  Patrick  mainly  for  the  "unbelievers." 

Some  writers  have  considered  that  the  effect  of  the  evi- 
dence we  have  adduced  as  to  the  Roman  Mission  is  greatly 
weakened  if  not  outweighed  by  the  fact  that  no  mention  is 
made  of  it  in  the  Confession.  This  arises,  in  our  judgment, 
from  an  incomplete  understanding  of  its  object  and  scope.  It 
is  not  and  does  not  profess  to  be  a  biography.  The  continued 
thread  of  the  narrative  is  not  in  externals.  These  are  dis- 
jointed, unconnected,  and  incomplete,  suggesting  throughout 
that  something  must  have  been  lost  or  omitted.  And  so  we  are 
not  surprised  to  find,  as  we  shall  see  in  our  next  chapter,  that 
attempts  were  made  at  an  early  period  to  supply  in  some 
measure  these  supposed  omissions,  and  additions  were  made 
to  the  original  text  which  is  to  be  found,  we  think,  in  the 
Book  of  Armagh  and  nowhere  else.  The  Confession  is  in 
truth  a  profession  and  a  testimony — a  profession  of  faith  in 
the  necessity  for  grace  from  the  very  beginning  to  the  very 
end  of  life  ;  and  a  testimony  borne  after  a  long  and  chequered 
career  to  its  supernatural  efficacy.  It  is  primarily  4.  record  of 
inward  experiences^  and^  for  its  length,  the  most  profoundly 
spiritual  writing  in  the  literature  of  the  Church  after  the  time 
of  St.  Paul.  External  events,  giving  time  and  place,  are  used 
merely  as  a  framework  in  which  are  set  the  inward  occurrences 
"  The  Lord,"  he  says,  "  took  care  of  me,  before  I  knew  Him 
and  before  I  had  wisdom.  Wherefore  I  cannot,  and  it  is  not 
expedient  that  I  should,  keep  silent  as  to  the  favours  which 
were  so  many  and  the  grace  which  was  so  great  (tanta  beneficia 
et  tantam  gratiam),  which  He  vouchsafed  to  bestow  on  me  in 
the  land  of  my  captivity."  And  then  he  had  the  vision  in  the 
night  time  and  took  flight  and  left  the  man  with  whom  he 
had  been  for  six  years,  and  "  he  went  in  the  strength  of  the 
Lord,  who  directed  his  way  for  good."  And  so  when  men 
and  dogs  were  starving  in  the  wilderness  he  lifted  up  his  voice 
in  prayer,  and  his  prayer  was  heard  by  the  God  of  love,  who 
fed  His  prophet  from  the  mouths  of  the  ravens,  and  con- 
veyed unseen  supplies  to  the  widow's  cruse.  And,  again,  in 
the  night  time  he  was  seized  by  evil  spirits,  and  he  cried  for 
mercy  to  the  God  of  Pity,  and  the  sun  burst  forth,  and  the  evil 
spirits  wer^l  shased  back,  into  the  darkness.     So  after  many 


THE  COMTNG  OF  ST,  PATRICK.  163 

yf^.irs  he  wont  again  among  his  own  people,  and  he  wavered, 
perhaps,  between  a  life  of  contemplative  and  easy  piety  on 
the  one  hand,  and  the  strenuous  and  perilous  life  of  "  a 
servant  laborious  and  serviceable  to  Christ "  on  the  other. 
Victorious  then  came  to  him  with  the  letter  beginning  "  The 
voice  of  the  Irish,"  and  he  thought  he  heard  voices  which  he 
recognised  from  the  Wood  of  Foclat  appealing  to  him  to  walk 
still  amongst  them.  He  did  not  accept  this  vision  as  a  com- 
mand, but  as  a  grace — as  a  call  to  sacrifice,  but  as  a  sure  sign 
and  token  of  God's  benediction  upon  him  ;  and  he  concludes 
with  the  ever  memorable  words,  "  I  beg  that  no  one  may 
ever  say  if  I  have  ever  done  or  proved  the  truth  of  anything 
successfully  [secundum  ?  ]  however  little,  that  I,  ignorant  as  I 
am,  have  done  it.     But  judge  ye,  and  let  it  be  believed  most 

truly,  that  it  was  the  grace  of  God.  And  this  is  my  confession 
before  I  die.  "29 

The  interest  in  this  text  is  mainly  spiritual.  The  canvas 
is  otherwise  tame  enough.  There  is  little  light  and  shade. 
It  lacks  the  deceptive  charm  of  contrasted  colours.  The 
world  loves  the  story  of  the  prodigal  son,  and  is  anxious  in 
particular  to  have  a  minute  and  detailed  account  of  his  doings 
while  he  was  prodigal.  This  interest  is  happily  absent  from 
the  life  of  our  apostle.  Pornographic  perfumes  have  at  all 
times  a  >iickening  odour,  even  when  employed  for  pious  uses. 
Saints  with  a  past  are  manifestations  of  God's  mercy ;  saints 
without  a  past  are  manifestations  of  His  grace.  Our  apostle 
was  a  child  of  grace,  and  his  confession  is  inspired  throughout 
with  its  holy  influence.  He  did  not,  it  is  true,  formulate  prin- 
ciples or  define  and  lay  down  doctrines.  His  was  the  practical 
wisdom  to  know  when  mysteries  should  be  left  mysterious. 
He  did  not  regard  grace  as  an  unseen  force  to  be  distributed 
in  volts  or  measured  by  foot-pounds.  Grace  was  to  him  as  m 
whispering  wind,  blowing  softly  on  the  withered  foliage  of  the 
soul,  and  filling  the  leaves  again  with  the  freshness  and  the 
beauty  of  the  spring  time. 

^  Precor  .  .  ut  nemo  unquam  dicat  quod  mea  ignorentia  si  aliquid  pusil- 
Inm  egi  vol  demonstaverim  secundum  ;  sed  arbitramini  et  verissime  credatur 
quod  donum  Dei  fuisset.     Et  hsec  est  confessio  mea  antequam  morior. 


[     1C4    ] 


CHAPTER  XL 

THE   PATRICIAN   DOCUMENTS. 

THE  Confession  deals  ver}^  briefly  with  what  happened  after 
the  arrival  of  our  Apostle  in  Erin.     Our  readers  will  be 
glad  to  have  the  narrative  as  nearly  in  his  own  words  as 
oar  translation  can  make  it.  We  also  give  the  Latin  text,  as  the 
ipsissima  verba  of  the  Saint  are  of  the  highest  importance  : — 

[Translation.] 

But  it  would  be  long  (he  says)  to  relate  all  my  labour  in  details,  or 
even  in  part.  Briefly,  I  may  say,  that  the  most  pitiful  (piissimus) 
God  often  rescued  me  from  being  enslaved,  and  from  twelve  perils  by 
which  my  life  was  endangered,  besides  many  snares,  and  things  that  I 
cannot  find  words  to  express ;  nor  will  I  try  the  patience  of  my  readers. 
But  God  is  my  Creator,  who  knows  all  things  before  they  come  to  pass. 
For  I  am  greatly  indebted  to  God,  who  has  given  me  such  grace  that 
many  peoples  (ruAr^)  should  be  born  again  to  God  through  me,  and 
that  everywhere  clergy  should  be  ordained  for  people  newly  coming  to 
the  faith,  whom  the  Lord  took  to  himself  (sumpsit)  from  the  ends  of 
the  earth,  as  He  had  promised  by  His  prophets — "  To  thee  the  heathen 
will  come  and  say,  our  fathers  made  false  idols,  and  there  is  no  profit 
in  them."     .     .     . 

Whence,  then,  has  it  come  to  pass  that  in  Ireland  they  who  never 
had  any  knowledge  of  God,  but  always  hitherto  worshipped  idols  ^  and 
unclean  things  have  lately  become  a  people  of  the  Lord  and  are  called 
Sons  of  God.  The  sons  and  daughters  of  the  Scottic  chieftains  are  seen 
to  be  monks  and  virgins  of  Christ  (Filii  Scotorum  et  filise  regulorum 
monachi  et  virgines  Christi  videntur) 

I  call  God  to  witness,  on  my  soul,  that  I  do  not  lie,  neither  [do  I 
write]  that  there  may  be  an  importunity  (occasio)  on  you,  nor  do  I 
hope  for  honour  from  any  man,  for  honour  that  is  not  yet  seen  but  that 
the  heart  believes  in  sufficeth ;  but  I  see  now  that  I  am  exalted  by 
the  Loi'd  above  measure  in  this  world,  and  I  am  not  worthy  nor  such 
that  He  should  bestow  this  upon  me,  for  I  know  that  poverty  and 
suffering  are  more  becoming  than  riches  and  luxury.  For  Christ  the 
Lord  was  poor  for  us.  Now  I,  poor  and  miserable,  even  though  I  should 
wish  for  riches,  have  them  not,  neither  do  I  judge  myself  in  that  I  daily 
anticipate  being  murdered  or  trapped  or  reduced  to  slavei*y,  or  some 
misfortune  overtaking  me. 

^  The  idols  here  referred  to  were  not  aiithroponiorpbie,  but  representations 
of  the  sua  and  moon,  etc.,  as  we  sliall  show  in  the  nest  chapter. 


THE   PATRICIAN   DOCUMENTS.  165 

Now  I  beg  of  those  who  believe  and  fear  God,  whosoever  shall 
deign  to  look  into  and  receive  this  writing  which  Patrick  the  sinner 
and  unlearned  truly  has  written  in  Ireland  that  no  one  may  ever  say 
if  I  have  done  or  proved  the  truth  of  anything  successfully 
(secundum)^  however  little  that  I,  ignorant  as  I  am,  have  done  it.  But 
judge  ye  and  let  it  be  believed  most  truly  that  it  was  the  grace  of  God 
(donum  Dei),     And  this  is  my  Confession  before  I  die. 

[Colophon.] 

Thus  far  tlie  book  that  Patrick  wrote  with  his  own  hand. 
On  the  I7th  day  of  March  Patrick  was  translated  to  heaven. 

Longum  est  hautem  totum  per  singula  enarrare  laborem  meum  vel 
per  partes.  Breviter  dicam  qualiter  piisimus  Deus  de  servitute  saepe 
(me)  liberavit  et  de  periculis  duodecim  quibus  periclitata  est  anima  mea 
praeter  insidias  multas  et  quae  verbis  exprimere  non  valeo,  nee  injuriam, 
legentibus,  faciam.  Sed  Deum  auctorem  (habeo)  qui  novit  omnia 
etiam  anteq\iam  fiant  quia  valde  debitor  sum  Deo  qui  mihi  tantam 
gratiam  donavit  ut  populi  multi  per  me  in  Deum  renascerentur  et  ut 
clerici  ubique  illis  ordinarentur  ad  plebem  nuper  venientem  ad 
credulitatem  quam  sumpsit  Dominus  ab  extremis  terrse  sicut  olim 
promiserat  per  prophetas  sues  "Ad  te  gentes  venient  et  dicent  falsa 
comparaverunt  patres  nostri  idola  et  non  est  in  eis  utilitas. 

Unde  autem  Hiberione  qui  nunquani  notitiam  Dei  habuerunt  nisi 
idola  et  immunda  usque  semper  coluerunt  quo  modo  nuper  facta  est 
plebs  Domini  et  filii  Dei  nuncupantur.  Filii  Scotorum  et  filise  regu- 
lorum  monachi  et  virgines  Christi  esse  videntur.     .     . 

Ecce  testem  Deum  invoco  in  animam  meam  quia  non  mentior, 
neque  ut  sit  occasio  vobis  neque  ut  honorem  spero  ab  aliquo  viro. 
Sufficit  enim  honor  qui  nondum  videtur  sed  corde  creditur.  Sed  video 
jam  in  pra3senti  sseculo  me  supra  modum,  exaltatum  a  Domino.  Et  non 
eram  dignus  neque  talis  ut  hoc  mihi  praestaret  ;  dum  scio  melius 
convenit  paupertas  et  calamitas  quam  divitise  et  delici?e.  Sed  et 
Christus  Dominus  pauper  fuit  pro  nobis.  Ego  vei'O  miser  et  iufelix 
etsi  opes  voluero  jam  non  habeo  neque  me  ipsum  judico  quia  quotidie 
spero  aut  internecionem  aut  circumveniri  aut  redigi  in  servitutem  sive 
occasio  cujuslibet  (fieri). 

Sed  precor  credentibus  et  timentibus  Deum  quicunque  dignatus 
fuerit  inspicere  vel  recipere  banc  scripturam  quam  Patricius  peccator 
indoctus  scilicet  Hiberione  conscripsit  ut  nemo  unquam  dicat  quod  mea 
ignorantia  si  aliquid  pusillum  egi  vel  demonstraverim  secundum,  sed 
arbitramini  et  piissime  credatur  quod  donum  Dei  fuisset.  Et  hsec  est 
confessio  mea  antequam  niorior.' 

[The  Colophon  follows.] 

Hucusque  volumen  quod  Patricius  manu  conscripsit  sua.  Septima 
decima  Martii  die  translatus  est  Patricius  ad  ccelos. 

2  Secundum  is  used  adverbially.  Wliilo  his  "  om  Dei  placitum  A  with  z  in 
margin."  The  Armagh  text  in  the  facsimile  MS.  and  the  Rolls  series  does  not 
contain  Deiplacitum. 

^  A  facsimile  of  the  Armagh  text  is  given  by  Gilbert,  Part  II.  Appendix 
III.,  which  it  is  useful  to  refer  to. 


166  EAELY   IRISH   HISTORY. 

The  Colophon  is  in  the  same  handwriting  as  the  rest  of 
the  text  and  as  the  heading,  which  was  written,  as  we  shall 
see,  by  Ferdomnach,  and  is  continuous  with  it.  It  is 
difficult  to  say  whether  it  originated  with  him  or  whether 
he  found  it  in  a  text  from  which  he  copied  it,  The  heading, 
which  is  in  these  words,  "Incipiunt  Libri  Sancti  Patricii 
Episcopi  "  [Here  begin  the  Books  of  St.  Patrick,  bishop],  seems 
to  indicate  that  there  were  two  Books  before  him  in  one 
"  binding,"  not  using  the  word  binding  in  the  modern  sense. 
The  word  Liber,  as  the  word  Book  in  mediceval  times,  was 
applied  to  what  we  should  now  term  a  tract  or  a  pamphlet  as 
well  as  to  a  "  volume,"  The  "  Books  "  here  mentioned  were, 
no  doubt,  those  mentioned  in  the  Tripartite  Life  and  elsewhere 
—the  Confession  and  the  Epistle  now  usually  called  the  Epistle 
to  Coroticus.  In  the  Cotton  and  Fell  (2)  MSS.  the  Epistle  is 
introduced  merely  with  the  words  "  Explicit  Liber  primus 
incipit  secundus."  [The  first  Book  ends  ("'  e.,  the  Confessio). 
the  second  Book  begins  (i-e.,  the  Epistle  to  Coroticus).  ]  Now 
the  Epistle  to  Coroticus  is  not  copied  into  the  Book  of  Armagh, 
but  it  would  be  straining  the  effect  and  import  of  the  Colophon 
too  far  to  assume  that  it  was  omitted  because  it  was  not  in 
the  handwriting  of  the  saint.  Why,  then,  was  it  omitted  \ 
Ferdomnach's  work,  as  we  shall  see,  was  done  under  the 
supervision  and  direction  of  Torbach,  the  successor  of  the 
saint  in  the  See  of  Armagh.  Its  omission  was  thus  the 
deliberate  act  of  the  Irish  Church  as  represented  by  its 
head,  and  not  merely  the  individual  choice  of  the  learned 
scribe.  We  think  it  was  omitted  because  the  text  before  them 
was  not,  in  their  opinion,  genuine.  We  cannot  for  one  moment 
believe  that  the  text  of  the  Epistle  was  not  before  them,  or 
that,  having  it  before  them,  and  believing  it  to  be  the  genuine 
script  of  the  saint,  or  a  genuine  copy  thereof,  they  would  have 
omitted  or  neglected  to  have  it  inscribed.  The  Bollandists 
took  their  copy  from  a  codex  in  the  Monastery  of  St.  Vedast, 
at  Noialle,  near  Arras.  They  state  that  it  was  joined 
on  to  the  Confession  in  the  Cordex  without  any  distinc- 
tive title.  This  want  they  supplied,  and  placed  at  the  head 
of  the  Epistle  the  title,  "Epistle  of  St.  Patrick  to  the 
Christian  subjects  of  Coroticus."  They  observe  that  this 
Epistle  was  not  written  to  Coroticus  himself,  but   refers   to 


THE   PATRICIAN   DOCUMENTS  167 

another  letter  written  and  sent  to  be  delivered  to  him,  which 
was  lost.* 

The  followin;::  passage  in  the  Epistle  to  Coroticus  appears 
to  be  an  extract  from  that  letter  : — 

It  is  the  custom  of  the  Rom.an  and  Gallic  Christians  to  send  holy 
and  suitable  men  to  the  Franks  and  to  the  other  nations  with  so  many 
thousands  of  solidi  (say  8/-  each)  to  redeem  baptised  captives  ;  you 
(i.e.,  Coroticus)  so  often  slay  thein,  and  sell  them  to  a  foreign  nation 
that  knows  not  God.  You  deliver  members  of  Christ  as  it  were  into  a 
brothel  {quasi  in  Iwpanar  tradis  membra  Chrisii).  What  hope  have 
you  in  God,  or  he  who  is  of  one  mind  with  you,  or  becomes  a  partner 
with  you  by  words  of  courtly  approbation  ?  (Qui  te  communicat  verbis 
adulationi.^'.) 

This,  it  will  be  observed,  is  addressed  directly  to  Coroticus. 
The  genuine  letter,  which  we  call  letter  to  distinguish  it 
from  the  Epistle,  as  the  Bollandists  state,  is  lost. 

We  pause  here  to  ask  :  is  this  language  applicable  to  the 
supposed  Coroticus,  of  Alclyde,  or  to  Kerdigan,  the  son  of 
Cynedda  ?     Stokes  observes  on  this : — 

The  passasje  proves  that  it  (i.e.,  the  letter)  must  have  been  written 
while  the  Franks  were  Pagans,  i.e.,  before  A.D.  496,  and  before  they 
had  crossed  the  Rhine  and  settled  in  Gaul,  i.e.,  before  428  A.D.* 

If  the  latter  date  could  be  approximately  fixed,  say,  before 
482,  with  certainty,  it  would  be  most  important  ;  but  we  have 
made  no  independent  investigation  on  this  point. 

The  Epistle  states,  apparently  in  reference  to  the  genuine 
letter  and  an  extract  from  it : — 

With  my  own  hand  I  (i.e.,  the  saint),  have  written  and  composed 
these  words  and  handed  them  to  the  soldiers  (militibus  the  Roman 
soldiers)  to  be  sent  for  the  fellow-citizens  of  Coroticus.  I  will  not  say 
my  fellow-citi;',ens  and  the  fellow-citizens  of  the  Roman  saints,  but  of 
demons,  on  account  of  their  evil  deeds  .  .  .  allies  of  the  Scots  and 
apostate  Picts,  who  are   bloody    (sanguilentos  sanguinai'e  ?)  with  the 

*  EoU.  Acta  SS,  17th  March,  vol.  XI..  534  (Ed.  1S6S).  We  are  not  aware 
\»hethcr  there  are  an  Explicit  aud  Incipit  in  the  Vedast  M.S.  If  so,  they  are  not 
given. 

Professor  Bury  thinks  "  the  scribe  was  hurried,  and  that  in  writing  the 
Confession  he  'scamped'  his  -worli  ior  tlie  same  reason  which  impelieu  him 
to  omit  copying  the  Letter." — "  Life  of  Patrick  !  "  p.  227. 

^  Trip.  Life,  Introduction  p.  1,  c.  1,  referrmg  to  Ferguson  Patrician  Docu- 
tneuts  101. 


168  EARLY   IRISH   HISTORT. 

blood  of  the  innocent  Christians  whom  I  have  begotten  inmimerably  to 
God,  and  confirmed  in  Christ.®  (i.e.,  gave  them  the  Holy  Eucharist). 

The  Epistle  continues  : — 

On  the  day  after  they  were  anointed  neophytes  while  (the  chrism) 
was  shining  on  their  foreheads  they  were  cruelly  slain  by  the  above- 
mentioned,  and  I  sent  a  letter  by  a  holy  priest  whom  I  had  taught 
from  infancy,  with  clerics,  asking  as  a  favour  that  they  might  grant  us 
some  of  the  plunder,  or  of  the  baptized  captives  they  have  taken,  but 
they  laughed  at  them. 

The  neophytes  at  that  time  were  usually  baptized  together 
in  numbers  at  Easter,  anointed  with  chrism  on  the  forehead, 
and  clothed  with  white  garments.  This  letter,  as  well  as  the 
letter  to  Coroticus,  has  been  lost.  We  now  come  to  the  appeal 
to  the  Christian  fellow-citizens  ol  Coroticus.  The  Epistle 
says  : — 

I,  therefore,  earnestly  beseech  (you),  who  are  holy  and  humble  in 
heart,  not  to  court  the  favour  of  (adulari),  such  persons  (i.e.,  the  raiders), 
nor  to  take  food  or  drink  with  them,  nor  to  take  their  alms,  until  they 
rigorously  do  penance  with  tears.  I  earnestly  entreat  every  servant  of 
God  as  he  has  been  eager  in  the  past  to  be  now  the  bearer  of  this 
letter,  and  that  it  be  not  withheld  from  anyone,  but  rather  read  before 
all  the  people,  even  in  the  presence  of  Coroticus.' 

This  clearly  implies  that  the  letter  was  to  be  read  before 
people  who  understood  Latin — who  were  the  Roman  fellow- 
citizens  of  the  robbers,  under  the  command  of  the  robber  chief, 
Coroticus.     Would  the  people  at  Alclyde  understand  it  ? 

Outside  the  Epistle,  Coroticus  is  an  "  etymological "  per- 
sonacre.     There  is  a  fable  of  a  conflict  of  St,  Patrick  with  a 


"O' 


^  Manu  mea  scripsi  atque  condidi  verba  ista  dancia  ct  traueu.Ia  militibus 
mittenda  Corotoci  non  dico  civibus  meis  atque  civibiis  sanctorum  Bouaanorum 
sed  civibus  demoniorum  ob  mala  opera  ipsorum  {riiu  host  Hi  in  morte  vivuni  P) 
Socii  Scotorum  et  Pictorum  apostatarum. 

White  gives  neque  instead  of  atque,  atque  is,  we  hold,  the  true  reading. 

We  understand  "  civil  "  here  to  mean  fellow-citizens.  "  The  robbers  by 
order  of  Coroticus"  are  nowhere  called  subjects  (subditi)  nor  is  he  called  King 
or  Prince.  The  words  "  invidet  inimicus  per  tirannidem  Coroticus  "  mean  b)' 
the  tyranny  or  cruelty  of  Coroticus,  and  do  not  imply  that  he  was  a  tyranuus 
or  ruler. 

liint'.merum,  innumerably.  The  adjective  is  used  adverbially  like  "  verum  " 
and  "aecuudum."  The  text  is  corrupt  here;  we  have  not  attempted  to  trans- 
iate  it.      Confirmed  is  technical,  and  means  here  gave  them  the  Holy  Eucharist. 

'  Quneso  plurimum  ut  quicunque  famulus  Dei  ut  promptus  fuerit  ut  sit  genih!"? 
litterarura  harum  ut  nequaquara  snbtrahatur  sed  magis  potius  legatiir  coram 
cunctis  plebibus  et  presente  ipso  Corotico. 


THE  pat]ik;ian  documents.  169 

certain  Coirthech  (supposed  by  some  to  be  Coroticus),  King  of 
Aloo,  supposed  to  be  Alclyde.  It  is  found  in  the  Brussels 
Codex,  but  not  in  the  book  of  Armagh.  The  saint,  for  grave 
reasons,  and  under  circumstances  we  cannot  detail  here,  turned 
this  monarch  into  a  little  fox  (vulpecula.) !  ^ 

The  alternative  Coroticus  is  Kerdigan,  the  son  of  Cynedda, 
the  eponymus  of  Cardiganshire.  It  would  require  the  genius 
of  Moliere  to  describe  adequately  the  linguistic  transformation 
by  which  Kerdigan  became  Coroticus. 

As  regards  St.  Patrick,  there  is  a  certain  parallelism 
between  the  Epistle  and  the  Confession.  The  compiler  of  the 
patchwork  epistle  had  the  text  of  the  Confession  before  him, 
and  we  judge  that  the  parallelism  is  due  to  imitation  on  the 
part  of  a  compiler  and  copyist.  The  language  which  he  puts 
into  the  mouth  of  the  saint  is  partly  untrue,  partly  incredible, 
ind  generally  out  of  keeping  with  his  character.  For  instance, 
the  saint  is  made  to  say — "  To  them  it  is  a  disgrace  that 
we  have  been  born  in  Ireland."  The  idea  belongs  to  a  later 
century,  when  the  Sect  of  the  Scots  was  "  Eliminated,"  and 
the  explanation  offered  for  this  untruth — viz.,  that  he 
identifies  himself  with  his  converts,  is  not  satisfactory.  The 
saint  would  never  have  said  that  he  tvas  born  in  Erin.  Again, 
"  I  was  free  born.  According  to  the  flesh,  I  was  born  to  a 
father  who  was  a  decurio.^  For  I  sold  my  nobility  for  the 
good  of  others  (I  do  not  blush  for  that,  or  regret  it.)  In  fine, 
I  am  a  servant  in  Christ  (given  over)  to  a  foreign  nation,  etc., 
etc,  .  .  And  if  my  own  friends  do  not  acknowledge  me,  a 
prophet  hath  no  honour  in  his  own  country."  But  his  friends 
pressed  him  to  stay  with  them,  as  he  tells  us  in  the  Confession  ; 
and  he  would  not  describe  the  office  of  decurio,  which  men 
fled  to  escape  from,  as  "  nobility,"  nor  speak  of  selling  or 
bartering  it.  His  conception  of  his  mission  was  spiritual,  and 
not  contractual,  and  very  far  removed  indeed  from  the  juristic 
formala  of  Do  ut  Des. 

'  The  fable  is  to  be  found  conveniently  in  Trip.  Life,  498. 

The  Brussels  MS.  has  "  vel  fecule,"  Probus  vnlpecula,  Stokes.  Trip.  Life 
(2i8)  says  i^i^ucc  fimiAic. 

^  Decurione  patre  nascor.  "  Diaconus  "  is  the  word  in  the  Conk^ssioa 
instead  of  "  Decurio."  With  contraction  both  words  would  be  nearly  alike. 
Wliether  contracted  or  not  the  word  would  probably  bo  failed  and  partly 
illegible  by  the  time  of  Ferdomnach.  Tho  context  in  the  CoufeiSion  sho.vs 
clearly  that  Decurio  is  right. 


170  •RARLY    IRISH    HISTORY. 

We  cannot,  however,  pursue  this  matter  further,  and  must 
refer  our  readers  to  the  Epistle  itself.  We  have  already  said 
that  there  was  probably  a  Letter  to  Coroticus,  written  while 
the  saint  was  assistant-bishop  among  the  Morini,  and  we  see 
no  reason  to  dissent  from  the  judgment  of  the  early  Church  in 
excluding  the  existing  script  from  their  Canon  of  Patrician 
documents. 

We  do  not  propose  here  to  give  details  as  to  the  missionary 
labours  of  our  apostle.  Our  readers  will  find  an  exhaustive 
account  of  the  legends  and  traditions  respecting  them  in  the 
recently  published  work  of  Archbishop  Healy,  The  reliable 
traditions  of  the  Church  concerning  them  will  be  found  in  the 
"  Selections  "  of  Muirchu,  cautiously  supplemented  from  the 
Tirechan  text,  the  Liber  Angueli  and  the  "  Additamenta  "  (a 
further  "  selection  "  which  we  may  assign  to  Ferdomnach.)  ^'^ 
These,  with  the  Confession  and  Dicta  Fatricii,  constitute  the 
Dociiinenta  Patriciana  in  the  Book  of  Armagh.  This  is  a 
small  vellum  quarto,  now  in  Trinity  college,  Dublin,  7|  inches 
in  height,  5f  in  breadth,  2^  in  thickness.  It  now  contains  221 
leaves.  The  first  leaf  of  the  Book  is  missing,  but  is  supplied 
from  a  MS.  that  was  formerly  in  the  "  Scots  Cloister "  in 
Wurzburg-on-the-Main,  in  Bavaria,  where  there  is  a  cathedral 
dedicated  to  St.  Killian,  and  which  MS.  is  now  in  the  Royal 
Library  at  Brussels.  The  writing  is  generally  in  double 
columns  (rarely  in  three),  and  all  appears  to  be  in  the  hand  of 
the  same  scribe,  Ferdomnach,  who  invites  the  reader  to  pray 
for  him,  Pro  Ferdomnacho  ores,  a  request  which  his  invalu- 
able labour  entitles  him  to  have  duteously  performed  by  his 
countrymen.  The  Rev.  Charles  Graves,  afterwards  Bishop  of 
Limerick,  "  by  a  most  recondite  and  elegant  demonstration," 
established  that  the  writer's  name  was  Ferdomnach,  who 
finished  the  Gospel,  according  to  St.  Matthew,  on  the  20oh  of 
September,  as  a  note  at  folio  36  testifies.  Another  note  at 
folio  52  states  that  Ferdomnach  wrote  the  book,  "  dictante  " 
Torbach,  the  Co-arb  of  St.  Patrick.  Torbach  died  in  807, 
having  held  the  See  of  Armagh  for  only  one  year.  Ferdom- 
nach died  in  845. 

The  plan  of  our  work    does    not   allow  us  to  enter  into 

"  See  Hogati,  s.  2,  "  Ann.  Boll ,"  Vol.  ii.,  213. 


THE   PATRICIAN    DOCUMENTS.  171 

particulars  in  matters  of  this  kind  ;  but  the  service  rendered  by 
Bishop  Graves,  in  fixing  the  date  of  the  Book  of  Armagh,  is 
so  valuable  that  we  must  make  an  exception.  We  owe  it  to  him 
to  give,  and  we  are  sure  our  readers  will  receive  with  grateful 
pleasure,  a  brief  exposition  of  some  details.  According  to 
Gaelic  usage,  the  name  of  the  scribe  was  written  in  the  Book 
of  Armagh  in  not  less  than  eight  places — viz.,  at  the  end  of 
the  Confession,  of  Matthew,  Mark,  Luke,  the  Apocalypse, 
Acts,  Life  of  St.  Martin,  and  Epistles  of  Sulpicius  Severus  to 
Eusebius.  These  entries,  however,  except  that  at  the  end  of 
St.  Martin,  had  been  erased  and  were  undecipherable.  The 
entry  at  the  end  of  St.  Martin's  Life  was,  with  great  difficulty, 
ascertained  to  be  Pro  Ferdomnacho  ores.  No  motive,  as  far 
as  we  can  discover,  can  be  assigned  for  these  erasures,  unless 
they  were  made  to  make  it  appear  from  the  Colophon  at  the 
end  of  the  Confession,  "  Thus  far,  the  Book  which  Patrick 
wrote  with  his  own  hand,"  that  the  codex  (or  most  of  it)  was 
written  by  the  Saint  himself,  which  Edward  Lluydd  states,  was 
the  commonly  received  belief  in  his  time^  Now  there  were 
two  Ferdomnachs,  both  scribes.  One  died  in  727,  the  other  in 
845.  The  latter  is  described  by  the  Four  Masters  as  a  man  of 
knowledge  and  a  choice  scribe  of  Ardmacha  (844  A.D. 
]:ex\t\X)orhnAC  ex\5nAfo  i  \'C\\\t>wi)    co5^i"6e  A^.va  XYlAdA  "o6ce) 

The  penmanship  of  the  Book  of  Armagh  is  of  the  most  consummate 
excellence.  The  whole  of  the  writing  is  remarkable  for  its  distinctness 
and  uniformity.  All  the  letters  are  elegantly  shaped,  and  many  of  the 
initials  are  executed  with  great  artistic  skill.  The  last  verses  of  St. 
John's  Gospel  (fol.  103a)  may  be  especially  referred  to,  as  exhibiting 
a  specimen  of  penmanship  which  no  scrivener  of  the  present  day  could 
attempt  to  rival." 

The  erasure  at  the  end  of  St.  Matthew  (fol.  52b)  enabled 
the  learned  bishop  to  decide  that  the  second  Ferdomnach  was 
the  scribe  whose  name  appeared  in  the  Book.  It  consisted  of 
four  short  lines  in  a  semi-Greek  character,  the  writing  in 
which  was  partly  revived  by  the  use  of  a  weak  solution  of 
gallic  acid  in  spirits  of  wine.      It  read  as  follows  :•— • 

*     *     *     ach  hunc 

*  ♦     *     ni^-**e  dictante 

*  *     *     ach  herede  Pat 
ricii  scripsit. 

"  Bi.shop  iJi-^ves,  Proc,  Ry.  Ir.  Ac,  iii.,  324,  Paper  read  Nov.  9th,  1846. 


172  EARLY    IRISH    HfSTORT. 

Dr.  Graves  found  that  the  bishop  referred  to  was  Torbach, 
who  sat  for  one  year,  according  to  the  Catalogues  of  the  Psalter 
of  Cashel,  given  by  Colgan,  and  the  Leabhar  Breac,  and  who 
died  on  the  16th  of  July,  807.     He  restored  the  text  thus  : — 

TEXT   RESTORED.  TRAXSLATED. 

F  domnach  hunc  Lib  Ferdomnach  this  Book 

E  rum  ***e  dictante  .     .     .     e  dictating 

R  Torbach  herede  Pat  Torbach,  successor  of 

ricii  scripsit  ^  Patrick,  wrote 

He  did  not  restore  the  three  letters  before  the  "  E."  We 
suggest  that  "ipse"  was  the  word,  and  translate:  "Ferdom- 
nach this  book  himself,  Torbach,  co-arb  of  Patrick  directing, 
wrote."  Ferdomnach  ipse  scripsit  is  a  Gaelicism  we  have 
noted  elsewhere='peAt\t)orhnAC  if  efiDe  no  fciMoG.  It  must  be 
remembered  that  the  documents  copied  into  the  Book,  at  least 
the  Patrician  documents,  were  ancient  texts,  partly  illegible 
from  age  at  the  date  of  the  Book. 

The  date  of  the  Book  of  Armagh  turns  on  the  meaninsf  to 
be  attached  to  the  word  "  dictante."  If  it  means  "  at  the 
dictation  of"  Torbach,  as  some  will  have  it,  the  Book  must 
have  been  written  in  the  lifetime  of  that  bishop,  not  later  than 
807.  If  dictante  means  "  by  the  order  of  "  Torbach,  as  others 
construe  it,  then  the  Book  may  have  been  written  at  any  time 
during  the  life  of  Ferdomnach,  who  died  in  845.  We  think 
that  the  true  meaning  of  "  dictante  "  here  and  in  similarcontexts 
is  "  planning  and  superintending  the  work,"  and  that  the  first 
part  of  the  Book,  at  any  rate,  in  which  the  "  Patrician  Docu- 
ments "  are  found,  was  written  during  the  lifetime  of  Bishop 
Torbach,  who  was  himself  an  eminent  scribe.^^  About  that 
time  the  co-arbs  of  Armagh  caused  a  diligent  search  to  be  made 
for  everything  that  could  be  ascertained  about  the  saint. 
"  Here  begin,"  says  Ferdomnach  in  the  Additamenta,  "  a  few 
things  in  addition  to  be  narrated  in  their  proper  places  which 

^-Coarb  (CAtTiAfibA)  =  Coheres,  i.e  ,  joint  heir  with  Patrick.  The  Roman 
jurists  had  not  reached  the  legal  conception  of  a  corporation  Sole,  and  the 
Donations  to  the  Church  of  E-oiue  were  always  to  St.  Peter,  the  reigning  Pope, 
and  his  successor,  who  were  co-heirs  with  St.  Peter.  This  mav  be  the  origin  of 
it. 

'^  Dictare  operam  tiigniiicare  videtur  pracsse  operariis,  iisque  normam 
tra  tere,  atnue  ordiaeiu  strucLionis.     Uucauge,  sub  voce. 


THE  patricmn  documents.  173 

have  been  discovered  in  later  times  by  the  research  (curiosi- 
tate)  and  zeal  of  holiness  [diligentia  sanctitatis]  of  the  coarbs, 
which  are  collected,  etc.,  to  the  honour  and  praise  of  the  Lord, 
and  in  loving  memory  of  Patrick,  even  to  the  present  day."^* 

The  importance  of  this  statement  cannot  be  overrated.  It 
proves  what,  indeed,  there  is  sufficient  evidence  to  establish 
independently,  that  the  documents  inserted  in  the  Book  of 
Armagh  were  carefully  selected  after  a  diligent  search  by  the 
early  church.  And,  in  our  judgment,  nothing  not  found  in 
the  Book  of  Armagh  should  be  allowed  "  canonicity  "  in  rela- 
tion to  his  life. 

The  Patrician  Documents  were  contained  in  the  codex 
[folios  1-24,  b.  1]  in  the  following  order: — (1)  Muirchu's 
Selections ;  (2)  Dicta  Patricii ;  (3)  Tirechan's  Text ;  (4)  Ad- 
ditamenta,  i.e.  Selections  in  the  hand  of  Ferdomnach,  and 
probably  made  by  him ;  (5)  The  Index  Hibernicus,  in  Fer- 
domnach's  smallest  hand,  which  contains  notes  or  catchwords, 
which  represent  to  some  extent  (Stokes  says  in  the  main) 
"  that  portion  of  the  Tripartite  Life,  which  is  not  embraced  in 
Muirchu's  memoir,  and  Tirechan's  notes " ;  ^^  (6)  Muirchu's 
Preface  and  the  Table  of  Contents  [out  of  place]  of  Part  I.  of 
his  Selections ;  (7)  The  Liber  Angueli ;  (8)  The  Confession. 

The  correspondence  between  the  Index  Hibernicus  and  the 
Tripartite,  which  Stokes  points  out,  is  very  important.  It 
brings  such  parts  of  the  latter  as  are  clearly  referred  to — very 
close  to,  if  not  within — the  canon  of  tradition,  which  the  church 
thought  worthy  of  preserving  after  a  selective  process  of 
criticism.  This  canon  of  tradition  should  be  received  with 
great  respect,  but  yet  not  as  an  inspired  word.  It  must  be 
subjected  to  the  tests  usually  applied  to  evidence  of  this  class, 
and  patiently  sifted  to  ascertain,  as  far  as  possible,  the  elements 
of  historical  truth  it  contains. 

Muirchu  wrote  under  the  superintendence  and  direction  of 
Aedh,  bishop  of  Sletty.^^     His  preface  indicates  the  nature  of 

"  [Additamenta  ad  Collectanea  Tirechani],  Incipinnt  alia  pauca  seroitinis 
temporibus  inventa  suisque  locis  narranda  curiositate  heredum  diligentiaque 
sauctitatis,  quae  ia  honorem  et  laudem  Domini  atque  in  amabilem  Patricii 
memoiiam  usque  in  hodiernum  diem  congregantur. 

"  Tliese  additions  seem  gathered  by  Ferdomnach,  the  scribe  of  '  The  Book 
of  Armagh,'  from  other  ancient  Lives  of  St.  Patrick." — Trip.  Life,  23i.  Stokes. 

15  Trip.  Life.  348. 

"■^  Dictaate  Aeduo  Slebtieasis  civitatis  episcopo.     (  +  6D8). 


174  EARLY   IRISH   HISTORY. 

tho  work  he  perfo-rmed.  We  give  the  text  in  p'\rt  and  a 
translation  of  it  tfo  which  we  invite  particular  attention,  as 
much  turns  on  its  correctness.  It  differs  altogether,  as  will  be 
perceived,  from  that  usually  accepted. 

Since  many,  my  lord  Aidus,  have  essayed  to  arrange  a  narrative  and 
that  (utique  istam,  a  Gfelicism)  according  to  what  their  fathers  and 
those  who  were  Ministers  of  the  Word  from  the  beginning  related  to 
them,  but  owing  to  the  great  difficulty  of  the  task  of  arranging  a 
narrative  and  divergent  opinions  and  very  various  views  of  very  many 
persons,  have  never  reached  one  sure  tract  of  history. 

Quoniam  quidem,  mi  domine  Aido,  multi  conati  sunt  ordinare 
narrationem  utique  istam  secundum  quod  patres  eorum  et  qui  ministri 
initio  fuerunt  sermonis  tradiderunt  illis,  sed  propter  difficilHmum  nar 
rationis  opus,  diversasque  opiniones  et  plurimorum  plurimas  suspiciones 
nunquam  ad  unum  certumque  historiae  tramitem  pervenerunt. 

But  not  to  appear  to  make  a  small  matter  into  a  big  affair,  in 
obedience  to  the  command  of  Your  Holiness  and  episcojyal  authority,  I 
too,  shall  undertake  to  tell,  piece  hy  piece.,  selectively  (carptim)  and  tvith 
dlfjicnlty,  a  few  of  the  many  incidents  in  the  life  of  St.  Patrick  which 
have  been  set  forth  with  little  skill  from  texts  of  uncertain  authorship, 
toith  frail  recollection  and  obscure  meaning,  hut  with  the  most  dutiful 
affection  of  love. 

Sed  ne  magnum  de  parvo  videar  fingere  pauca  haec  de  multis 
Sancti  Patricii  gestis  parva  peritia  incertis  auctoribus,  memoria  labili, 
attrito  sensu,  vili  sermone,  sed  affectu  piissimo  caritatis,  etiam  sancti- 
tatis  tuae  et  auctoritatis  imperio  obediens  carptim  gravatimque  explicare 
aggrediar. 

The  part  in  italics  is  thus  translated  by  Todd : — 

But  lest  I  should  seem  to  make  a  small  matter  great  with  little 
skill  from  uncertain  autliors  with  frail  memory,  with  obliterated 
meaning,  and  barbarous  language,  but  with  a  most  pious  intention, 
obeying  the  command  of  thy  belovedness  and  sanctity  and  authority,  I 
will  now  attempt,  out  of  many  acts  of  St.  Patrick,  to  explain  these 
gathered  here  and  there  with  difficulty. 

Barry  translates  thus  :— 

But  lest  1  should  seem  to  make  much  of  little  I  shall  undertake  to 
tell  briefly  and  gravely  these  few  from  among  the  many  deeds  of  St. 
Patrick,  with  slender  skill,  doubtful  authors,  forgetful  memory,  obscure 
text  and  mean  speech,  but  with  most  loving  affection  in  obedience  to 
the  behest  of  your  Holiness  and  authority." 

"   Barry,  Prologue  by  Muirchu,  xv. 

Bury  has  an  interesting  article  in  Hermathena  (xxviii.,  172)  on  the  tradi- 
tion  of  Muirchu's  text.  Ho  says  (p.  206),  as  regards  the  place  whore  Pallauius 
died.  "  We  may,  therefore,  I  think,  conjecture  with  much  probabihty  that 
Muirchu  wrote  BritoHum  {i.e.,  in  riaibus  Britonum).      This  is  the  word  in  the 


THE    PATRICIAN    DOCUMV.NTS.  175 

Certaii-Jy  if  all  this  refers  to  Mviirchu,  the  Bishop  of  Sletty 
and  the  Irish  Church  were  most  unfortunate  in  their  selection 
of  an  eminent  scribe.  We  are  clearly  of  opinion  that  Muirchu 
refers  not  to  himself,  but  to  other  writers  who  had  previously 
dealt  with  the  subject. 

The  Tirechan  text  merits  and  requires  very  careful  con- 
sideration. It  is  a  piece  of  literary  joinery  fortunately  so 
clumsily  put  together  that  it  can  be  taken  to  pieces  without 
much  difficulty.  This  task  has  been  performed  by  Professor 
Bury  in  a  valuable  article,  to  which  we  acknowledge  our  in- 
debtedness, though  we  do  not  entirely  concur  in  his  views. 
The  work  has  no  title.^^  The  opening  sentence  : — "  Tirechan, 
bishop,  wrote  these  from  the  lips  and  from  the  Book  of  Ultan, 
bishop,  whose  alumnus  and  disciple  he  was,"  is  merely  a 
heading  by  a  scribe.^^  In  any  case  it  is  proved  to  be  inaccu- 
rate by  the  subsequent  narratives.  The  residue  of  the  script 
is  divisible  into  two  parts.  The  first  consists  of  two  books 
stated  to  have  been  put  together  (peractus)  in  the  regions  of 
Meath,  Connact,  and  Ulster,  which  deal  mainly  with  the  con- 
ferring of  Holy  Orders,  the  foundation  of  churches,  and  the 
circumstances  connected  with  such  foundations.  There  is 
also  mention  of  a  visit  to  Leinster,  and  the  last  event  recorded 
is  the  baptism  of  the  sons  of  Natfraich  in  Munster  on  the  rock 
of  Patrick  in  Cashel  [et  baptizavit  filios  Nioth  FruiGh,[i.e., 
Aengus  and  his  brother]  i  tir  Murtiae  super  petram  Goit/irigi 
hi  Gaissiul.]  The  object  of  this  visitation  by  Tirechan,  of 
whom  nothing  is  known,  save  that  he  was  the  disciple  of  Ultan 
(t656),  is  revealed  in  the  following  passage  at  the  commence- 
ment of  Book  IL,  which  we  present  to  our  readers,  reserving 

Armagh  Text.  The  other  reading  ia  "  in  finibus  Piotorum.)^  He  returns  to 
Muiichu  in  the  EngUsh  Historical  Review  (903  p.  xix.,  493),  and  refers  to 
"  Misit  Germanus  seniorem  cum  illo,  hoc  est  Segetium  prespiterum  ut  tosteia 
comitem,  haberet  quia  nee  adhuc  a  sancto  domino  Germano  in  PontificaH  gradu 
ordinatus  est"  (Trip.  Life,  272),  as  implying  that  the  Saint  was  subsequently 
consecrated  by  Germanus.  We  think  the  impUcation  should  be  that  not  having 
been  already  consecrated  he  went  to  Rome  for  consecration. 

"Etiam  sanctitatis "  so  Stokes  and  Todd.  Hogan  omits  "  etiam," 
observing  *'  Codex  babet  *  et  sanctitatis.'  sed  particula  '  et '  deleta  puncto  supra 
posito." — Ann.  Boll.,  \i.,  546. 

The  punctum,  perhaps,  should  have  been  the  mark  of  a  contraction.  The 
text  appears  to  require  "  etiam  ;  "  it  is  certainly  better  for  it. 

18  E.  H.  Rev.,idx.,  235,  700,  see  also  Proc,  Ry.,  Jr.  Ac.  xxiv.,  163. 

"  Muirchu  might  have  selected  the  collection  ascribed  to  Bishop  Tirechan  as 
an  illustration  of  the  texts  described  in  hia  preface.      If  so,  he  was  well  advised. 


17G  early   IRISH   HISTORY. 

observations  upon  it  till  we  come  to  consider  the  organisation 
of  the  early  Irish  church  : — 

All  that  I  have  written,  from  the  beginning  of  this  book  (you 
know,  because  they  were  done  in  your  parts)  I  heard  from  many  elders 
and  from  Ultan,  Bishop  of  the  Dal  Conchubar  (a  tribe  of  the  O'Connors 
in  Meath),  who  brought  me  all  except  a  few  facts  which  I  discovered  as 
the  profit  of  my  own  exertion. 

But  my  heart  within  me  thinks  of  the  love  of  Patrick,  because  I 
see  that  deserters  and  arrant  graspers  and  soldiers  of  Hibernia  hate  the 
paruchia  of  Patrick,  because  they  have  robbed  him  of  what  was  his 
own,  since,  if  the  successor  of  Patrick  were  to  seek  what  belongs  to  his 
paruchia,  he  could  restore  to  it  almost  the  whole  island,  because  God 
gave  to  him  the  whole  island  and  its  inhabitants  through  the  Angel  of 
the  Loi'd,  .  .  and  it  is  not  lawful  for  a  spear  [lignum  ?]  to  be  sent 
against  him,  because  he  is  everybliing  appertaining  to  the  primacy  of 
the  Irish  Church,  and  every  oath  that  is  taken  is  taken  by  him  [i.e.,  on 
the  Canoin  Padraic  or  the  Bachall  Jesu].^ 

The  statement  about  the  angel  clearly  refers  to  the  story 
in  the  Liber  Angueli  that  an  angel  appeared  to  Patrick  to 
tell  him  that  the  Lord  had  given  him  the  primacy,  and  defining 
the  boundaries  of  the  See  of  Armagh  ;  and  it  was,  probably,  to 
these  muniments  of  title  that  Mael  Suthain  refers  in  the  entry 
made  by  him  at  the  foot  of  Fol.  16  between  the  Tirechan  text 
and  the  Liber  Angueli.^^ 

Saint  Patrick,  going  up  to  Heaven,  bequeathed  the  fruit  of  his 
labours,  the  fruit  of  baptisms,  suits,  and  alms  to  be  yielded  to  the 
apostolic  city,  which  in  Gaelic  is  called  Ard  Macha.      So  I  have  found 

^  Omnia  quae  scripsi  a  principio  libri  bujus  (i.e.,  Liber  ii.)  scitis  quia  ia 
vestris  regionibus  gesta  sunt  nisi  de  eis  pauca  qu^e  inveni  in  utibtatem  laboris 
mei  a  senioribbs  multis  ac  ab  illo  Ultano  episcopo  Conchuburnensi  qui  nutrivit 
me  retubt  sermo.  Cor  autem  meum  cogitat  in  me  de  Patricii  dilectione  quia 
video  dessertores  et  arobiclocos  et  mibtes  Hibernise  quod  odio  babont  parucbiam 
Patricii  quia  substraxerunt  ab  eo  quodipsiuserat  timentque  quoniamsi  quaereret 
heres  Patricii  parucbiam  iUius  potest  pene  totam  insulam  sibi  reddere  in 
parochiam  quia  Deus  dedit  iUi  totam  insolara,  cum  bominibus  per  Anguelura 
Domini  (*  *  *)  ot  non  bgnum  beet  contra  eura  mitti  quia  ipsius  sunt  omnia 
primitiviC  ecclesia;  Hibernicae  sed  juratur  a  se  omne  quod  juiatur,  Ann.  BolL  II., 
45;    Trip.  Life,  312.     This  text  is  obscure,  but  very  important. 

Archiclocos,  Windisch  suggests  apxtt:\w.>j£c  the  "  p  "  being  changed  to  "1," 
wbicb  found  favour  with  Stokes,  and  at  first  with  Bury.  On  second  thoughts 
Bury  says:  "  Reflection  has  convinced  me  that. this  assumption  of  the  change 
from  '•  p"  to  "  1 "  in  the  case  of  a  very  rare,  if  not  unique  loan  word  such  as 
this  would  be,  cannot  be  maintained.  The  true  solution  is  much  simpler.  The 
second  "c"  in  the  word  is  either  redundant,  or  is  a  mistake  for  "1,"  and  what 
Tirechan  wrote  was  Arcbilocos  or  Archillocos ;  that  is  Archilocos,  meaning 
malignant  poets  or  satirists,  E.  H.  Rev.,  17,  704,  257.  We  confess  we  do  not 
bad  the  solution  simple.  We  suggest  a  composite  word  from  "  Archi,"  arrant, 
and  gtACAim  I  grasp,  the  "  arrant  graspers,"  euphemistic  for  plunderers,  or 
grabbers. 

^  Trip.  LifQ,  336 — "  It  is  in  an  eleventh  century  hand  " 


THE   PATRICIAN    DOCUMENTS.  177 

in  the  great  book  (Bibliothecis)  of  the  Scots.  I,  Calvxis  Peennis  (i.e., 
Mael-Suthain)  have  written  this  in  the  presence  of  Brian,  Emperor  of 
the  Scots,  and  what  I  have  written  he  has  fixed  (finivit)  for  all  the 
kings  of  Cashel. 

Mael-Suthain  was  the  anamchara  of  Brian, ''  Imperator  Scotorum  " 

The  residue  of  the  text  is  importaut  from  another  point  of 
view  and  is  clearly  not  the  work  of  Tirechan.  It  concludes 
with  a  "  Breviarium  "  or  short  summary  of  contents. 

Here  ends  the  Breviarium  of  the  race,  name,  genealogy,  boyhood, 
seizures  (captivitatum),  virtues.  Christian  ministry,  writing  (documen- 
tum),  indiistry,  curses  of  sinners,  blessings  of  the  pious,  age  at  death.  All 
which  done  in  the  Lord  have  been  brought  together  and  collected  by  old 
men  of  great  knowledge  and  skill  (antiquis  peritissimis). 

The  previous  text,  however,  does  not  contain  any  notice  of 
St.  Patrick's  race  (gens.),  or  genealogy,  or  two  seizures.  The 
Breviarium  belonged,  we  think,  to  a  work  of  which  only  part 
is  given  in  our  text.  Professor  Bury  is  of  opinion  that  the 
Breviarium  is  an  index  to  Muirchu  as  well  as  to  Tirechan. 
We  cannot  accept  this  view.  It  would  be  an  inadequate  index 
for  Muirchu  and  he  has  been  already  provided  with  an  elabo- 
rate table  of  contents,  and  nobody  would  think  of  looking  to 
the  end  of  Tirechan  to  find  out  what  was  contained  in  Muirchu. 
We  suffsrest  it  was  an  index  to  the  "  documentum  "  named  in 
the  text,  namely  the  "Commemoratio  laborum," — the  "  Scriptio 
sua,"  and  it  is  probable  that  the  account  of  the  gens.,  gene- 
alogy, and  two  seizures  was  omitted  from  the  Tirechan  text 
because  it  was  to  be  found  a  few  folios  back  in  the  text  of 
Mairchu.  What  is  oriven  in  the  text  is  either  an  addition  to 
Muirchu  or  differs  from  him  and  from  the  Confession.  It 
begins  as  follows  : — 

"  I  have  found,"  the  writer  says,  "  four  names  ascribed  to  Patrick 
in  the  Book  with  Ultan  bishop  of  the  Dal  Conchubar  (Ardbraccan) — 
1  Saint  Magonius ;  which  is  bright  (clarus),  2  Succetus ;  3  Patricius  ; 
4  Cothirthiacus  who  served  four  households  of  Magi  (draoi).  And  one 
of  them  named  Miliuc  bought  him  and  he  served  him  seven  years  in 
service  of  all  kinds  with  double  (time  of)  labour  and  he  placed  him  as 
a  swineherd. in  mountain  valleys. 

"  In  the  17th  year  of  his  age  he  was  taken  captive,  carried  to 
Hibernia,  and  sold  there.  In  the  22nd  year  of  his  age  he  was  able  to 
leave  the  wizard.  Seven  years  more  he  walked,  or  sailed  over  seas,  or 
lived  in  fields  or  mountain  vallej's,  through  the  Gauls,  and  all  Italy, 
and  on  the  islands  which  are  in  the  Tyrrhene  Sea,  as  he  tells  himself  in 

N 


178  EARLY   IRISH   HISTOR'X. 

the  commemoration  of  his  labours',  and  he  was  in  one  of  the  islands, 
called  Aralanensis  [Arelatensis],  30  years,  as  Ultan,  the  bishop,  testified 
to  me,  and  all  things  that  happened  to  him  you  will  find  plainly  set 
forth  in  his  narrative.  These  are  the  '  mirabilia '  happily  performed 
by  him  in  the  fifth  year  of  the  reign  of  Laoghaire  MacNeill.^  From 
the  passion  to  the  death  of  St.  Patrick  are  reckoned  436  years,  and 
Laoghaire  reigned  for  five  years  after  the  death  of  St.  Patrick."  The 
length  of  his  z'eign  was  36  years,  an  we  think  ^ 

The  text  further  states  :--• - 

St.  Patrick  landed  at  Inis  Patrick  with  a  multitude  of  holy 
bishops  and  presbyters.     He  consecrated  450  bishops  ! 

Near  the  end  of  the  text  we  find : 

The  age  of  Patrick,  as  has  been  handed  down  to  us,  is  reckoned  as 
follows  : — -In  his  seventh  year  he  was  baptised  ;  in  his  tenth  he  was 
captured  ;  for  seven  years  he  was  a  slave  ;  for  thirty  years  he  read  ; 
for  seventy-two  years  he  taught.  The  sum  total  of  his  age  was  120 
years,  like  Moses.  In  four  tilings  Patrick  was  like  Moses.  1.  He 
heard  an  angel  from  a  bush.  2.  He  fasted  forty  days  and  forty  nights. 
3.  He  lived  120  yeai's.  4.  Where  his  bones  are  no  one  knew.  Two 
hosts  fought  for  the  body  for  twelve  days  and  twelve  nights,  and  for 
that  (space  of  time)  they  saw  no  night,  but  daylight  always.  On  the 
twelfth  day  they  came  to  fight  (still)  and  each  of  the  two  hosts  (by 
miracle)  saw  the  body  on  its  portable  bier  amongst  themselves,  and 
they  did  not  fight.  Columcille,  inspired  by  the  Holy  Spirit,  pointed 
out  the  sepulchre  of  Patrick." 


*2  According  to  the  Four  Masters  Laoghaire  died  458  A.D.,  after  reigning 
for  30  years. 

23  In  XVII.  setatis  suae  anno  captus,  ductus  yenditus  est  in  Hiberniam ;  in 
XXII.  anno  laboris  magis  (read  magni)  relinquere  potuit;  VII.  aliis  annis 
ambulavit  et  navigavit  in  fluctibus,  in  campestribus  locis,  et  .„  convallibns 
moatanis  per  Gallias  et  Italian!  totain  atque  in  insulis  qxvx  sunt  in  mari 
Terreno.  ut  ipse  dixit  in  comraemoratione  laborum.  Erat  hautem  in  una  ex 
insulis  qu:e  dicitur  Aralanensis  annis  XXX.  mihi  testante  Ultano  episcopo. 
Omnia  bautem  quae  evenerunt  (ei)  invenietis  in  plana  bistoria  illius  scripts. — 
Trip.  Life,  p.  302. 

Aralanensis  is,  we  think,  Lerins,  the  island  Sancti  Honorati  Arelatensis, 
i.e.,  of  Saint  Honoratus,  bishop  of  Aries.      It  is  now  called  Saint  Honorat. 

Bury  thinks  the  Commemoratio  Laborum  in  the  text  means  the  Confession, 
though  the  writer  cVd  not,  in  fact,  consult  the  Confession. 

"  The  only  written  sources,"  he  writes,  "  to  which  Tirechan  refers,  are  a  book 
^hich  belonged  to  Bishop  Ultan,  and  the  Confession  of  St,  Patrick,  It  is  tolerably 
clear  that  he^had  before  him  only  this  book  of  Acta,  and  did  not  consult  the  Con- 
fession,  though  he  refers  to  it  as  the  saint's  own  Commemoratio  Laborum.  We 
think  tke  Commemoratio  Laborum  was  erroneously  reputed  to  be  "  scriptio  sua." 


THE   PATRICIAN   DOCUMEXTS.  179 

The  hosts  that  fought,  and  their  children,  must  have  for- 
gotten the  saint  very  soon,  which  is  incredible,  and  did  not 
deserve  the  assistance  of  the  Holy  Spirit.  St.  Patrick  died  in 
493,  and  Columba  went  to  lona  in  563.  A  similar  story  is  told 
of  Columba  and  St.  Martin  of  Tours.  On  visiting  Tours, 
Columba  was  asked  to  point  out  the  grave  of  St.  Martin, 
which  he  agreed  to  do  on  condition  that  he  should  receive 
everything  that  should  be  found  in  the  grave,  except  the 
bones.  The  Annals  of  Ulster  state  that  in  554  (sixty-one  years 
after  the  saint's  death)  our  saint's  relics  were  enshrined  by 
Columba.  Three  precious  reliquaries  were  then  found  in  the 
tomb — the  cup,  the  angel's  gospel,  and  the  Bell  of  the  Will. 
There  is  no  mention  of  a  miracle;  nor  has  Adamnan  heard 
of  it. 

In  another  place  the  writer  quotes  St.  Patrick's  alleged 
statement  that  he  gave  money  presents  to  tribal  chiefs  to 
secure  a  safe  passage  in  the  districts  which  he  was  in  the 
habit  of  visiting.  The  passage  referred  to  is  not  found  in  the 
Armagh  text  of  the  Confession,  but  appears  in  the  Cotton  and 
Fell  MSS.  of  the  11th  century,  and  in  the  Vedast  MS.,  probably 
of  the  same  period. 

It  is  as  follows: 

At  the  same  time  I  gave  presents  to  the  Kings  besides  the  cost  of 
keeping  their  sons  who  walked  with  me,  in  order  that  they  (i.e.,  the 
Kings)  should  not  seize  me  with  my  companions.     .     .     , 

But  you  know  how  much  I  expended  on  those  who  were  judges 
throughout  all  the  districts  which  I  used  more  frequently  to  visit.  And 
I  think  I  paid  them  the  price  of  not  less  than  fifteen  men,  so 
that  you  might  enjoy  me,  and  I  might  enjoy  you  in  the  Lord.  I  do  not 
repent  of  it,  yea,  it  is  not  enough  for  me.  I  still  spend  and  will  spend 
more.^ 

This  extraordinary  fantasy  about  the  saint's  bribing  kings 
and  judges  may  be  compared  with  the  prayer  in  the  Tripartito 
Life  when  he  got  the  staff  of  Jesus   from  the   Lord,  "and 

^  Patricius  etiam  pretium  xii.  animarum  hominum  ut  in  scriptione  sua 
affirmat  de  argcnto  et  aere  ut  nullus  malorum  hominum  impediret  eos  in  via 
recta  transeuntes  totam  Hibernian. — Tirechan,  Trip.  Lfie.  310,  line  5. 

Censeo  enim  non  minus  quam  pretium  quindecim  hominum  distribui  illis 
—Trip.  Life,  372,  from  Cotton  MSS. 


ISO  EARLY    iRISH    HISTORY. 

Patrick  asked  three  favours  from  him — namely,  (1)  to  be  ou 
His  right  hand  in  the  Kingdom  of  Heaven ;  (2)  that  he  might 
be  judge  of  the  Gael  on  doomsday;  and  (3)  as  much  gold  and 
silver  as  his  nine  companions  could  carry,  to  be  given  to  the 
Gael  for  believing."  Again,  "He  took  gold  to  Miliuc  to 
irQBress  belief  upon  him,  for  he  knew  that  Miliuc  was  greedy 
for  ^old." 

The  Apostle  was  not  a  company  promoter,  nor  a  millionaire, 
nor  a  "souper."'  He  did  not  march  forward  as  a  soldier  of 
Christ  with  sword,  or  money  bag,  or  soup  kitchen.  He  carried 
nothing  with  him  but  the  Gospel  and  the  Cross.  In  hoc  signo 
vicit. 

In  the  Tirechan  text  we  read :  "  And  they  "  (St.  Patrick 
and  his  companions)  "  began  to  travel  to  Mount  Egli,  and 
Patrick  paid  to  them  the  price  of  fifteen  lives  of  men,  as  he 
affirms  in  his  writing,  in  silver  and  gold,  that  no  evil-minded 
person  should  hinder  them  going  on  the  straight  road  across 
Hibernia,"  ^  The  writing  (scriptio  sua)  referred  to  here  must 
be  the  documentu7)i,  the  Commemoratio  Lahoru'm,  and  it 
seems  not  unlikely  that  the  writer  of  the  addition  to  tho 
Armagh  Confession,  in  other  texts,  found  that  the  statement 
and  many  more  equally  incredible  in  the  Commemoratio 
Lahorum,  which  we  feel  confident  our  saint  would  never  have 
written.  For  instance,  let  us  take  the  first  paragraph  of  the 
matter  added  to  the  Armagh  text  from  the  Cotton  MS. 


•o 


And  when  I  was  assailed  by  some  of  my  seniors  who  opposed  (my 
consecration)  to  the  laborious  episcopate  on  account  of  my  sins  I  was 
indeed  strongly  impelled  on  that  day  to  fall  then  and  for  ever.  But 
the  Lord  spared  a  proselyte  and  a  pilgrim  for  His  name's  sake.  He 
graciously  and  powerfully  aided  me  in  this  attempt  to  trample  on  me 
because  I  had  not  evilly  proceeded  to  wickedness  and  shame.  I  pray 
God  that  the  circumstance  be  not  reckoned  to  them  as  sin,  for  after 
thirty  years  they  found  me  out  and  uryed  against  (me)  a  word  which  I 
had  confessed  before  I  was  a  deacon.  Through  pain  of  mind  I  told  a 
most  intimate  friend  what  I  had  done  in  one  day  in  my  boyhood,  nay, 
in  one  hour  because  I  had  not  strength  as  yet.  I  know  not,  God 
knows,  if  I  was  then  fifteen  years  old.  For  I  did  not  believe  in  one 
God,  not  from  my  infancy,  but  I  remained  in  doubt  and  unbelief  until 
I  was  severely  chastened. 


®  See  preceding  note. 


THE   PATRICIAN   DOCUMENTS.  181 

The  -writer  of  this  had  a  nucleus  for  the  romance  in  the 
statemeni  at  the  opening  of  the  Confession  that  the  saint  did 
not  know  God  truly  then  (verum  Deum).  This  the  writer,  not 
understanding  its  true  import,  changes  to  "  one  "  ("  verum  "  to 
"  unum  ")  God,  and  makes  our  Saint  out  an  unbeliever  and  a 
pagan.  The  terrible  sin  is  not  mentioned.  Zimmer,  however, 
has  found  it  out.  "Young  Sucat,"  he  says  "  gave  himself  up 
to  worldly  pleasures,  and  himself  owns  to  having  sinned  against 
the  sixth  commandment  [i.e.,  committed  adultery)  when  in 
his  fifteenth  year." '-°  When  will  those  additions  and  men- 
dacities come  to  an  end  ? 

Surely  it  is  high  time  that  the  men  of  Erin  at  least  should 
take  their  stand  on  what  is  written  in  the  Book  of  Armagh 
under  the  authority  of  the  Co-arbs  of  the  Apostle  in  the 
primacy  of  the  fatherland.-^ 

Another  crime  laid  to  the  charge  of  our  Saint  furnishes  a 
good  example  of  how  a  harmless  legend  becomes  metamor- 
phosed.    We  refer  to  the  theft  of  the  relics. 

In  the  Trip.  Life  itself  there  are  evidently  two  stories  mixed 
up.  In  the  first,  the  angel  appears  to  the  saint  and  tells  how 
the  relics  are  to  be  divided  to-day  (indiu)  in  Rome  for  the 
four  quarters  of  the  world,  and  says,   "  I  will  carry  you,  &c. 

And   the    angel   carried  Patrick   into  the  air." 

This  was  clearly  for  the  purpose  of  taking  him  off  to  Rome  in 
time  for  the  distribution,  and  we  expect  to  find  him  present  on 
that  day  in  Rome  and  getting  his  share.  Not  so,  however, 
runs  the  text.     He  goes  to  Waterford,    thence  by  ship   to 

««  Zimmer,  Celtic  Church,  43, 

*  The  collections  in  the  Book  of  Armagh,  written  in  the  seventli  century, 
must  be  taken  as  authorities  in  preference  to  all  of  later  date,  which  are 
evidently  but  systematized  amplirications  of  them.  Yet  it  will  be  seen  that 
even  in  these  documents  the  stalements  are  so  vague  and  contradictory  that 
nothing  very  conclusive  can  be  gleaned  from  them.  The  first  in  a  ruder  style  is 
the  same  in  substance  as  that  by  Probus. — Petrie,  Tara,  83. 

Facile  constat  inter  eruditos  post  Confessionem  Patricii,  utruraque  monu- 
mentum  Libri  Armachani  antiquissimnm  esse  omnium  quae  de  sancti  apostoli 
historia  ad  nos  peruenerit.  Immo  non  dubitat  Petrie  omnes  vitas  Patricii  quas 
edidit  Colganus  ex  hoc  solo  fonte  prodesse.  Quod  omnmo  certum  est  de  vita 
quje  Probi  nomine  inscribitur  ;  hfcc  enim  ita  insistit  vestigiis  Muirchu  Maecu- 
mustheni  (nisi  quod  de  missione  B-omana  Patricii  qufedam  hausit  i!e  Tirechano) 
ut  manifesta  habenda  sit  illius  magis  latior  et  elegantior  recensio. — Ho.siaa,  S.J., 
Ann.  Boll,  I.  243. 


182  EARLY   IRISH   HISTORY. 

Bordeaux,  thence  to  Rome,  "and  sleep,"  the  text  proceeds. 
"  came  over  the  inhabitans  of  Rome,  so  that  Patrick  brought 
away  as  much  as  he  wanted,  i.e.,  365  relics,  together  with  the 
relics  of  Paul,  Peter,  Laurence,  Stephen,  and  many  others. 
Patrick  left  that  collection  at  Armagh." 

In  Colgan  it  appears  amplified  again — vires  acquisivit 
eundo. 

Bj  a  pious  stratagem  or  theft,  whilst  the  custodians  of  the  sacred 
places  were  asleep  and  knowing  nothing,  but,  as  is  believed,  with  the 
connivance  of  the  Pope,  he,  Patrick,  took  a  multitude  of  relics  and  carried 
them  a  A  ay  to  Hibernia.^ 

There  is  no  reference,  we  need  hardly  say,  to  these  felonious 
proceedings  in  the  Book  of  Armagh.  The  writer  came  to  the 
conclusion  that  though  there  was  flat  robbery  there  was  no 
sacrilege,  and  waxes  into  enthusiasm  over  this  obscure  and 
puzzling  discovery. 

"  Oh,  wonderous  deed,"  he  exclaims,  "  seldom  equalled — the  theft  of 
a  vast  treasure  of  holy  things  carried  off  from  the  most  holy  place  in 
the  world  without  committing  sacrilege."  !  !^' 

Many  more  illustrations  of  this  falsification  of  traditions 
might  be  adduced.  We  shall  only  give  two.  The  Tripartite 
Life  fp.  194J  states,  referring  to  the  saint's  visit  to  Cashel : — 
"  When  Oengus,  the  son  of  Natfraich,  arose  in  the  morning  all 
the  images  were  '  innaligib ' — batur  imarachta  huili  innaligih 
— and  Patrick  and  his  people  found  him  beside  the  fort."  The 
Life  continues  : — "  He  (Oengus)  gives  them  welcome  and  brings 
them  into  the  fort."  Now  "  innaligib  "  means  literally  "  in 
their  beds  or  in  their  graves,"  and  probably  was  meant  to 
convey  that  they  had  been  put  away  by  Oengus.  They  were 
probably  representations  of  the  sun  and  the  moon,  etc,  as  we 
have  already  explained,  and  if  there  was  anything  miraculous 
to  relate  about  them  the  writer  of  the  Tripartite  would 
undoubtedly  not  have  omitted  it.     He  was,  however,  satisfied 

2spio  astu  furtove  sacrorum  locorum  custodibus  nesciei^tibus  et  dorm  en- 
tibus  et  summo  ut  creditur  connivente  Pontifice,  accepit  ingeutem  sacrarum 
reliquiarum  multitudinem  quas  secuin  iu  Hiberniam,  asportavit. — Acta  SS., 
vol.  II.,  p.  264. 

^O  mirum  facinus  rarumque,  ingentis  thesauri  ex  loco  mundi  sacratissimo 
rapti  sacrarumque  rei'um  furtum  sine  sacrilegio  commissum. — Colgan,  Acta,  SS., 
II..  164. 


THE   PATRICIAN    DOCUMENTS.  183 

witli  the  bare  statement  of  fact.  Not  so,  however,  Jocelyn. 
He  was  a  French  Cistercian  monk  from  Furness,  in  Lancashire, 
and  came  to  Erin  as  a  friend  and  supporter  of  the  Angevins, 
and  in  particular  of  De  Courcy,  "  the  plunderer  of  churches 
and  territories  "  ('pin).  He  wrote  his  "  Life  " — the  Vita  Quinta 
of  Colgan — between  1183  and  1186. 

"  Many  fools  (he  writes,  in  his  preface)  have  written  the  Hfe  of  St, 
Patrick  with  a  pious  intent  but  in  an'  unhandsome  style,  by  which 
disgust  is  often  excited  and  sometimes  tardiness  of  belief.  I  will  season 
the  life  of  the  saint,  if  not  with  all  the  excellence  of  our  tongue,  at  least 
with  some  of  its  elegance." 

He  tells  us  that  the  saint  journeyed  into  Munster — 

And  the  king  thereof,  Oengus,  met  the  holy  prelate  rejoicing  and  giv- 
ing thanks  in  the  exultation  of  his  heart,  as  on  that  day  occasion  wao 
minstered  to  him  of  joy  and  of  belief  for  that  in  the  morning  when  he 
entered  the  temple  to  adore  his  idols  he  beheld  them  all  prostrate  on 
the  ground.  And  so  often  as  he  raised  them,  so  often  by  the  Divine 
power,  were  they  cast  down,  nor  could  they  stand  upright,  but  continu- 
ally were  overthrown.  And  as  Dagon  could  not  stand  at  the  approach 
of  the  Ark  of  the  Testament,  so  neither  could  the  idols  stand  the 
approach  of  St.  Patrick.^" 

His  account  of  the  saint's  mother  is  novel  and  interesting, 
Muirchu  knew  nothing  of  it : — 

Calphurnius  married  a  French  damsel  named  Concessa,  a  niece  of 
the  Blessed  Martin,  Archbishop  of  Tours,  and  the  damsel  was  elegant 
in  her  form  and  in  her  manners ;  for,  having  been  brought  from  France 
with  her  elder  sister  into  the  northern  parts  of  Britain  and  there  sold 
at  the  command  of  her  father,  Calphurnius,  being  pleased  with  her 
manners,  charmed  with  her  attentions,  and  attracted  by  her  beauty, 
very  much  loved  her,  and  from  the  state  of  a  serving  maid  in  his  house- 
hold raised  her  to  be  his  companion  in  wedlock. 

Our  concluding  illustration  shall  be  Jocelyn's  masterpiece, 
"  The  Miracle  of  the  Love-sick  Nun."  The  lady  was  Ercnat, 
Daire's  daughter.     Muirchu  tells  us  : — 


"■o" 


There  was  a  rich  man  of  rank  in  the  Eastern  part  (of  Oirghialla). 
named  Daire,  and  Patrick  asked  him  for  a  site  for  religious  worship. 
"What  place  do  you  want?"  asked  Daire.  "That  height  called 
Willow  Hill  (Druim  Sailech),"  said  the  saint.  Daire  refused  to  give 
that  site  then,  but  after  some  incidents  not  necessary  to  be  mentioned 
here  he  save  it,  and  St.  Patrick  and  Daire  went  to  consider  the  miracle 

2"  Vita,  c.  74,  Swifte. 


184  EARLY   IRISH   HISTORY. 

or  the  ofFering  and  to  view  the  well-jilea.sing  donation,  and  they 
ascended  the  height,  and  thev  found  in  the  place  a  doe  with  its  little 
fawn  Ij'ing  where  the  altar  of  the  church  at  the  left  now  is  at  Ard 
Macha.  And  the  companions  of  Patrick  wished  to  take  and  kill  the 
fawn,  but  the  saint  would  not  permit  it.  Nay,  he  took  up  the  fawn 
himself  and  carried  it  on  his  shoulders,  and  the  doc  followed  him  like 
a  pet  sheep  until  he  lay  down  the  fawn  in  another  field  at  the  North 
side  of  Ard  Macha,  where,  as  knowledgeable  men  say,  there  are  marks 
remaining  to  this  day  of  his  pious  act  (signa  virtutis  ejus).*^ 

Muirchu  knows  nothing  or  says  nothing,  about  the  follow- 
ing addition  to  this  charming  little  episode,  which  is  found  in 
the  Triiiobrtite  Life  (233)  : — 

Daire's  daughter  loved  Eenen.  Sweet  to  her  seemed  his  voice  at 
the  chanting.  An  illness  came  upon  her,  and  thereof  she  died.  Benen 
took  creta  (cretra  =  consecrata  ?)  to  her  from  Patrick,  and  straightway 
that  holy  virgin  rose  up  alive,  and  afterwards  she  loved  him,  spiritually. 
She  is  Ercnat,  Daire's  daughter,  who  is  (buried)  in  Tamlacta  Bo.^ 

Jocelyn   presents  the  story  "  with  the  excellence  and  the 

elegance  of  the  tongue,"  but  we  doubt  if  these  qualities  of 

style  have  entirely  removed  our  "  tardiness  of  belief." 

"  The  venerable  Benignus,"  he  writes,  "  excelled  in  the  song  of  a 
sweet  voice,  so  that  he  penetrated  the  liearts  and  ears  of  all  who  heard 
him.  So  out  of  the  melody  of  his  voice  did  the  tempter  minster  the 
occasion  of  sin.  For  a  nun,  whilst  she  wa3  delighted  with  the  sweet 
singing  of  Benignus,  entertained,  at  length,  a  more  earnest  desire 
towards  the  man  of  God,  who  knew  nothing  of  this  unhallowed  flame 
which  hai'dly  could  she  contain  in  her  bosom.  Taught  by  a  woman's 
cunning,  she  feigned  extreme  illness,  and  withdrew  as  into  her  sick  bed, 
and  besought  that  from  Benignus  she  might  receive  spiritual  counsel 
and  the  Holy  Communion.  But  St.  Patrick,  at  the  revelation  of  the 
Spirit,  was  not  ignorant  of  what  distemper  did  the  nun  labour  under. 
He  sent  Beni2[nus.  Wonderful  was  the  event.  The  damsel,  raising 
her  eyes  at  his  entrance,  beheld  Benignus  very  terrible  in  his  stature, 
and  his  face  as  breathing  forth  flames,  and  she  beheld  herself  blazing 
within  and  without,  and  St.  Patrick  standing  nigh,  covering  his  face 
with  his  hands.^ 

Great  saints  are  not  exempt  from  some  of  the  perils  that 
attend  other  forms  of  greatness.  The  biographer  lies  in  wait 
for  them. 

31  Muiiclin,  c.  24,  Trip.  Life,  290. 

*  In  the  MartjTolofry  of  Donegal  it  is  stated  that  Benisrnus,  afterwards  St, 
Patrick's  co-arb  in  Armagh,  "  was  then  a  psalm  singer  with  his  master  Patrick," 
nnd  that  after  recovering  Ercnat  offered  her  virginity  to  God,  so  that  she  went  to 
heaven.  The  "  creta  "  was  probably  "  uisce  cousecrata,"  holy  water. — Martyr 
Dons^.  30. 

^•^  Jocelyn,  c.  97,  abridged. 


C    1S5     ] 


CHAPTER  XII. 

THE  RELIGION  OF  THE  GAEL  BEFORE  SA.INT  PATRICK. 

THE  religion  of  the  Gael  before  the  advent  of  Christianity 
can,  in  its  general  outlines,  be  ascertained  with  a  reasonable 
degree  of  certainty.  The  evolution  of  their  religious  con- 
ceptions followed  a  normal  course,  and  by  comparing  what  we 
know  of  them  with  our  knowledge  of  other  branches  of  the 
Aryan  family,  we  can  fix,  with  precision,  the  stage  at  which  it 
had  arrived.  The  religion  of  the  Celestial  Fire*  or  light,  pre. 
dominated  ;  the  sun  and  the  moon  were  the  principal  objects 
of  worship.  But  beside  and  below  this  cultus  were  survivals 
from  the  animistic  period  ;  sometimes  referred  to  as  poly- 
demonism.  This  consisted  in  a  belief  in  the  existence  of 
spirits,  or  demons,  animating,  or  watching  over  everything, 
and  that  everything  could  be  controlled  or  influenced  by 
verbal  formulas,  incantations,  or  magical  practices  known  only 
to  the  wizards.  These  wizards  became  fortune-tellers,  obtaining 
information  from  the  demons  they  controlled;  and,  being  observers 
of  the  heavens,  and  having  power  over  the  elements — wind, 
rain,  and  mist — they  became  in  due  course  astrologers.  It  was 
the  superstitions  connected  with  polydemonism  that  the 
Church  found  everywhere  the  most  difficult  to  eradicate. 
The  Church  admitted  the  existence  of  evil  spirits,  their 
intelligence,  activity,  and  implacable  hatred  of  mankind. 
Speaking  of  the  cultus  of  stones,  in  the  valley  of  Lebroust,  in 
the  centre  of  the  Pyrenees,  a  writer,  quoted  by  Bertrand,  stated, 
in  1877  :— 

These  enchanted  (sacrees)  stones  are  most  frequently  found  near 
springs,  and  are  boulders  or  blocks  of  unhewn  granite  ...  In  vain 
do  the  priests  fight  against  them  in  the  pulpit.  They  have  not  suc- 
ceeded in  extirpating  them  from  all  hearts.  In  vain  do  they  get  these 
vestiges  of  persistent  paganism  secretly  destroyed,  particularly  those 
near  which  young  men  and  girls  keep  tryst.  When  the  inhabitants 
catch  the  destroyers  at  work,  they  assemble,  and  prevent  them.  If  the 
■work  has  been  accomplished  unknown  to  them,  they  gather  up 
the  broken  pieces  and  replace   them,  and   continue  the  cultus.     It  is 


ISf)  EARLY   IRISH   HISTORY. 

necessary  to  remove  the  pieces  to  a  distance,  aud  scatter  them. 
Sometimes  a  cross  is  placed  on  the  spot  to  appropriate  to  religion  the 
respect  in  which  it  was  held.^ 

Was  the  Lia  Fail  sent  away  for  this  reason  1  We  shall  see. 
The  Gael  were  approaching  polytheism,  or,  possibly,  even 
monotheism,  but  had  not  reached  either.  There  were  no 
temples  or  man-shaped  idols  among  them  such  as  are  found  in 
abundance  everywhere  else  in  Europe.  None  have  been  found 
above  ground  or  underground  at  Usnach,  Tara,  Tlachtga, 
Tailltin,  Cruachan,  or  elsewhere  in  Erin,  except  at  MaghSlecht. 

St.  Patrick  tells  us  in  the  Confession,  as  we  have  seen,  that 
the  Irish  had  no  knowledge  of  God,  but  worshipped  idols  and 
unclean  things  (idula  et  immunda).  What  were  these  idula  ? 
Were  they  man-shaped  ?  We  submit  they  were  not.  There 
are  two  entries  in  Cormac's  glossary  which  throw  much  light 
on  this  point.     We  quote  them  here  in  full  : 

Idol,  i.e.,  ab  idolo,  ct^og  in  the  Greek,  forma  in  the  Latin,  unde  dicitur 
idolum,  that  is  the  forms  and  representations  of  the  idols  or  the  elements 
{nandulaf  which  the  heathen  used  to  make  formerly. 

Indelba,  i.e.,  the  names  of  the  altars  of  these  idols,  because  they 
■were  wont  to  make  {dofornetesf  on  them  the  figures  (delba)  of  every- 
thing (or  of  the  elements)  *  they  adored,  verbi  gratia  figura  solis 
(figure  of  the  sun). 

This  is  further  illustrated  by  the  following  story  told  by 
Keating  : — 

There  was  a  priest  in  Tir  Conell  in  the  time  of  Colum  Cille  who 
built  or  erected  a  church  of  splendid  stone  and  erected  an  altar  with 
glass  in  it,  and  put  shapes  of  the  sun  and  moon  in  it,  in  that  church  ;  ^ 
and  shortly  after  that  came  a  weakness  and  a  swoon  upon  that  priest, 
and  a  demon  came  to  him  after  that  and  tof)k  him  with  him  in  the  air, 
and  after  a  while  they  came  near  Colum  Cille,  overhead  him.  He 
caught  sight  (of  them)  and  stretched  out  the  sign  of  the  holy  cross  over- 
head in  the  air.  So  with  that  the  priest  fell  down  from  above.  And 
accordingly  the  priest  dedicated  the  church  to  Colum  Cille  for  his  help 
from  the  hands  of  the  demon,  and  became  a  monk  himself  and  spent  a 
good  life  from  that  oul^ 

^  Bertrand,  La   Religion  des  Gaulois,  p.  4d. 
2  Nandula — creatures.     Stokes. 
'  Dofornetes — carve.     Stokes. 

*  Cormac's  glossary.     Stokes  94,  95,  compiled  890,  A.D.  (c). 
^  Delba  in  uile  no  adratis  (no  nandula  odortaes). 

The  uile  not  translated  by  Stokes  is  important,  as  it  would  include  the  sun  and 
moon  which,  however,  the  Gael  would  then  classify  as  "  dula." 
®  Stokes  gives  text  and  translation,  Rev.  Celt.,  xx.,  428. 

"Do  t)i  Sajaiic  a^  Ci^i  Conelt  An  Aimfiji  Cotuim  Citle  no  cinroAis  no  "oo 
cojAib  eAjlef  -oo  clocAib  UAifle  "]  ■oo  cojAib  Atcoip  5loine  itice,  "j  do  cuif 
•ocAlb    'sjietne    "]    eAjiCA   •do   -oeAlb    fAn    eAjitef*   rm    1    .'^o    Sfo-o  "oa  eif  j-in 


THE  RELIGION  OF  THE  GAEL  BEFORE  SAINT  PATRICK,  187 

Keating  found  the  story  doubtless  in  the  Egerton  MS.  or 
some  copy  of  it,  "which  states  : 

There  was  a  wealthy  priest  wlio  adorned  his  church  with  precious 
stones,  i.e.,  a  church  that  was  in  his  cell  (a  church  in  which  his  cell 
was  ?),  and  made  an  altar  of  crystal  and  wrought  (thereon)  the  shape  of 
the  sua  and  the  moon.^ 

O'Mahony^  understood  Keating  to  refer  to  a  heathen  priest 
but  he  could  not  havo  called  a  heathen  priest  a  fA^Afc.  We 
deemed  it  right,  therefore,  to  give  the  Gaelic  text,  not  hitherto 
printed,  in  full.  It  seems  that  the  good  priest  had  more  zeal 
than  discretion.  The  altar  was  not,  of  course,  of  crystal.  It 
was  probably  of  wood  with  panes  of  glass  in  it  shaped  like  the 
sun  and  moon  and  lighted  from  behind.  There  were  then  no 
heathen  priests  nor  heathen  temples  in  Erin. 

The  heathen  practices  connected  with  polydemonism  were 
condemned  by  several  councils — by  St.  Augustine  in  Africa ; 
by  St.  Csesarius  of  Aries,  in  the  south  of  France ;  and  by  St. 
Eligius  in  the  North.  St.  Eloi  (Eligius,  588-659)  was  born 
near  Limoges,  in  the"  suburbium  "^of  which,  as  his  deed  of  grant 
states,  he  founded  and  endowed  with  lands  the  great  Abbey  of 
Solignac,  which  is  eight  miles  south  of  the  city.  The  charter 
or  deed  of  grant  from  him  to  the  abbot  Remadus  expressly 
states  that  it  is  given  on  condition  "  thatyou  and  your  successors 
follow  the  way  of  religion  of  the  most  holy  men  of  the  monas- 
tery of  Luxeuil,  and  firmly  keep  the  rule  of  PP.  Benedict  and 
Columbanus.^°  '  Thus  side  by  side  in  the  same  religious  house 
we  find  the  rule  of  St.  Colum  was  observed  with  that  of  St. 
Benedict,  until  the  greater  practical  sense  of  the  latter  code 
superseded  the  more  rigid  legislation  of  the  former.  Whilst 
not  in  any  way  lax,  the  Benedictine  rule  did  not  prescribe  an 

rAijt  AnbpAin  "]  niofi  aiji  An  f a^ahc  fin  "]  CAini^  -oeAmAn  cuij;e  tAji  fin  t)o 
jiug  teic  f  An  Aieo{i  e,  ■]  An  c^tAc  cAnsATJOii  AnjAjt  -do  Cotum  Cilte  of  a  cion, 
fUAj\  AWA^c  1  x>o  fine  comAtcoA  nA  c|toice  nAeoriiCA  of  a  cion  f An  Aieoiti  guji 
tuic  An  fAgAf.c  teiffin  ec  •do  Biein  -oo  lobAi^i  An  fAjAfC  An  eAjtef  -do 
Cotum  Cilte  cfe  nA  foificin  a  tAtriAib  An  -oeAniuin  -j  vo  cviait)  fein  An  opx» 
iriAnAC  5«|t  CA1C  a  Aimfef  50  niAic  o  fin  auiac. — MS.  Vellum,  by  Dermot 
O'Connor,  written  in  1730,  Brit.  Mus.  add.  18,  745,  p.  144. 

'"Ootusne  Atcoiti  slumnae  "]  r)0|ii5ne  T)etb  Sfene  *)  e|tco. 

SQMahony,  p.  463. 

^  So  the  Vicus  Bonavem  was  in  the  suburbium  of  Taruanna. 
^^  Et  tamen   conditione  inteiposita   ut   vos  et  successores  vestri    tramitem 
religionis  sanctissimorum  virorum  Luxoviensis  monasterii  consequamini  et  regu- 
1am  beatissimorum  PP.  Benedicti  et  Columbani  firmiter  teneatis.      Migne,  vol. 
87-col.  659. 


ISS  EARLY   IRISH   HISTORY. 

asceticism  which  could  be  practised  only  by  the  few,  and  the 
most  ample  powers  were  given  to  the  superior  to  adapt 
the  regulations  to  all  circumstances  of  times  and  places.  The 
Columban  rule,  on  the  other  hand,  was  one  of  great  rigour,  and 
would,  if  carried  out  in  its  entirety,  have  made  the  Celtic 
monks  almost,  if  not  quite,  the  most  austere  of  men."  ^^ 

The  Monastery  of  St.  Eloi  was  remarkable  for  Having  a 
number  of  artistic  handicraftsmen,  skilful  particularly  in 
goldsmiths'  work,  in  which  St.  Eloi  himself  excelled,  and 
Limoges  became  celebrated  in  the  Middle  Ages  for  ecclesiastical 
gold  work.  We  incline  to  believe  that  the  foundation  was 
largely  recruited  from  the  countrymen  of  Columbanus. 

The  heathenish  practices  to  which  we  have  referred  are 
nowhere  more  exhaustively  enumerated  than  in  a  sermon  by 
St.  Eloi,  which  is  preserved  in  his  Life  by  his  contemporary 
and  biographer,  St.  Ouen,  Bishop  of  Rouen  (A.D.  640).  We 
shall  give  here,  in  abridged  form,  such  parts  as  are  applicable 
to  polydemonism  in  Erin,  and  which  show  forth  briefly  and 
authoritatively  what  this  cult  of  polydemonism  was  in  practice. 
Eligius  became  Bishop  of  Noyon  in  A.D.  640.  It  was  then 
one  of  the  most  important  cathedral  cities  in  France, 
Charlemagne  was  crowned  there  in  A.D.  768  : — 

Above  all,  I  warn  and  adjure  you  (the  Bishop  said).  Let  no  man 
observe  the  sacrilegious  practices  of  the  pagans  or  dare  to  consult 
persons  who  make  charms,  or  practise  fortune-telling,  or  sorcery,  or 
magic  on  account  of  sickness,  or  for  any  other  reason.  Observe  not 
auguries,  or  sneezing,  nor,  when  on  a  journey,  attend  to  the  singing  of 
birds.  Let  no  Christian  take  note  of  the  day  on  which  he  leaves  home, 
nor  the  day  on  which  he  returns,  nor  of  the  day  of  the  month,  nor 
of  the  moon,  before  commencing  any  work. 

Let  no  one  on  the  Feast  of  St.  John  take  part  in  the  "  Solstitia," 
or  jumping,  or  dancing,  or  carolling,  or  devilish  songs,  or  call  on  the 
name  of  Neptune,  Diana,  Orcus,  Minerva,  or  the  Genii,  or  believe  in 
nonsense  of  that  sort.  Let  no  Christian  light  luminwia  (fires  or 
"  cleares  "),  and  make  vows  or  prayers  at  shrines,  or  stones,  or  springs, 
or  trees,  or  "cellas"  (spots  struck  by  lightning,  collicellas  ?),  or  cross 
roads.  Let  no  one  tie  charms  around  the  neck  of  man  or  beast.  Let 
no  one  make  sprinklings,  or  incantations  on  herbs,  or  dare  to  make  the 

^^  Abbot  Gasquet,  English  Monastic  Life,  p.  214   and  11,  citing   Hound   Celtic 
Church  of  Wales  ,p.  1 66.  !St.  Eloi  wanted  his  monks  to  be  "  the  most  austere  of  men." 

By  the  Canons  of  the  Council  of  Aix-la-Chapelle  (which  was  held  in  817,  under 
Jjouis  le  T>ehona.ire  in  domo  A quisy rani  palatii  qucc  ab  Lateranis  dicitur,  at  the  in- 
stance of  St.  Benedict  of  Aiiiane,  near  Montpellier,  one  of  the  reformers  of  the 
Benedictines,  it  was  ordained  that  all  the  monks  in  the  empire  ^■llould  follow  the 
reformed  Benedictine  rule  and  liturgy.  This  order  was  enforeed  by  the  secul?' 
arm— Hefele  (Tr.  Delarc),  V.  218. 


THE   RELIGION    OF  THE    GAEL  BEFORE  SAINT   PATRICK.       189 

cattle  pass  through  the  hollow  of  a  tree  or  through  a  hole  in  the 
earth,  because  by  this  he  openly  consecrates  them  to  the  devil. 

Let  no  woman  hang  amher  from  her  neclc. 

Let  no  one  shout  at  an  eclipse  of  the  moon. 

Let  no  one  call  the  sun  and  the  moon  lords  (dominos),  nor  stvear  by 
them}^ 

The  Abb^  Arbellot,  in  his  interesting  Life  of  St.  Eloi  (1898). 
tells  us  that  the  custom  relating  to  cattle,  above  mentioned, 
still  exists  in  some  parts  of  Limousin.^^ 

The  oldest  form  of  the  Gaelic  oath  we  are  acquainted  with 
consisted  in  giving  and  taking  as  sureties  or  securities  the 
elements.  Ferdiad  tells  Meve,  in  the  Tain,  that  he  will  not 
fio-ht  Cuchulain  without  this  oath  : — 


o 


I  will  not  go  without  securities 
***** 

Without  the  sun  and  moon 
Together  with  the  sea  and  lantL 

Hi     p^Sr^    5^"    PACA 

*  *  *        * 

gAti  stiein  ocAf  epci 

Ia    niUlf    OCAf    CI]!. 

This  was  the  substance  of  the  solemn  Gaelic  oath  till 
Christianity  took  root.  It  was  the  oath  taken  by  Laoghaire 
not  long  before  his  death,  "  He  gave  the  securities  of  the  sun 
and  of  the  wind,  and  of  the  elements  to  the  men  of  Leinster.'' 
He  broke  this  pledge,  and  next  year  (458  A.D.),  "  the  sun  and 
the  wind  killed  him  because  he  had  outraged  them"  (xip  pop^p- 
Ai$  lA-o), 

The  violation  of  a  guarantee  or  security,  whether  in  the 
case  of  a  god-element  or  of  a  man,  was  a  heinous  outrage 
in  the  estimation  of  the  Gael,  We  have  seen  the  effects 
in  the  case  of  Fergus  MacRoigh.  A  case  is  recorded  where 
a  son  killed  his  own  father  for  the  violation  of  an  oath  in  which 
the  son  was  given  as  security.  It  will  be  observed  that  there 
is  no  mention  in  the  formula  quoted  of  any  god  of  the  sun  or 
the  moon  or  the  earth,  where  we  should  expect  to  find  them  if 
they  were  objects  of  worship.  The  Church  was,  of  course, 
opposed  to  this  oath,  and  a  transition  formula  appears  to 
have  been  adopted.  The  words  sun,  moon,  sea,  and  land, 
given  as  securities  were  excluded,  and  the  substituted  formula 
ran: — "I  swear  by  the  oath  of  my  people"  (long  a  coing  mo  tiiAt) 

12  Migne,  vol.  87,  col.  528. 

13  Vi-e  de  St.  Eloi.  p.  3:. 


190  EARLY   IRISH   HISTORY. 

M.  d'Arbois  has  given  a  very  interesting  comparison  of  the 
*'  Celtic  "  with  the  Homeric  oath,  the  latter  of  which  names 
gods  and  elements  together.^*  There  was,  also,  the  soldiers' 
oath.  He  swore  by  his  arms,  his  comrades  in  battle.  He 
looked  for  help  to  the  power  within  the  bronze  or  the  iron. 
The  Homciic  auroc  tij)t\KeTai  ai'^pa  ailrjpoq — the  iron  itself 
draws  the  man  on  to  it — was,  probably,  used  originally  m 
this  sense.  This  form  of  oath  was  also  customary  with  the 
Germans,  as  Grimm  tells  us.^^ 
Spenser  says : — 

So  do  the  Irish  at  this  day  -when  they  go  to  battle  say  certain 
prayers  or  charms  to  their  swords,  raaking  a  cross  therewith  upon  the 
earth,  and  thrusting  the  points  of  the  blades  into  the  ground,  thinking 
thereby  to  have  the  better  success  in  fight.  Also,  they  used  commonly 
to  swear  by  their  swords. 

Caesarius  (476-544), "  Dragged  from  the  monastery  of  Lerins, 
to  be  Archbishop  of  Aries,"  warns  his  ilock  to  cut  down  and 
destroy  any  trees  or  altars  or  such  like  things  on  their  lands 
to  which  the  people  resorted  for  vows.  He  states  that  when  a 
sacred  tree  fell  the  people  would  not  use  any  part  of  it 
for  fuel.^^ 

O'Donovan  tells  us  in  his  Supplement  to  O'Reilly  (1864)  : — 

There  is  an  ancient  tree  growing  in  Borrisokane,  Tipperary,  22  feet 
in  diameter.  It  is  held  in  peculiar  veneration  by  the  peasantry,  who 
would  not  cut  off  any  part  of  it  for  fuel,  because  they  believe  that  the 
house  in  which  any  part  of  it  should  be  burnt  would  soon  meet  the 
same  fate.^'^ 

The  cultus  of  trees,  stones,  wells,  etc.,  need  not  detain  us. 
There  is  one  particular  cult,  however,  which  deserves  notice — 
that  is,  the  custom,  which  continues  to  our  time,  of  imaking 
rounds  at  holy  wells.  How  did  this  originate,  and  why  ?  An 
explanation  occurs  to  us,  which  we  deem  it  right  to  offer  foi 
consideration.  It  was,  we  surmise,  the  adaptation  of  a  primitive 
well-cult  to  the  ritual  of  sun-worship.  The  votary  faced 
the  east,  and  turned  to  the  right  hand,  "  desiul "  with  the 
course  of  the  sun.  The  two  cults  were  tlius  combined  after  the 
sun  bad  become  the  paramount  object  of  worship.   The  Church 

^*  Rev.  ArcMologiqiie,  Aug.  1892,  p.  2^^- 
^^  Deutsches  Alterthum,  .S-lii. 
^«  -Migno.  vol.  33,  col.  :i2u7. 
"  U.  D.  Suppl.  Bile. 


THE  RELIGION  OF  THE  GAEL  BEFORE  SAINT  PATRICK.         191 

was  not  able  to  extirpate  these  practices  completely,  but  suc- 
ceeded to  a  large  extent  in  modifying  them,  and  in  associating 
them,  when  purged  of  paganism,  with  Christian  beliefs.  "  The 
Church,"  writes  Bossuct,  "resigned  herself  to  taking  part  in 
them  (St.  John's  Fires),  in  order  to  banish  heathenism  (super- 
stitions)  from  them."^^ 

In  connection  with  the  cult  of  the  Celestial  Fire,  there  was 
no  function  more  important  than  its  reproduction  annually  in 
perfect  purity.  Fire  may  have  been  originally  discovered  by 
observing  it  produced  by  one  branch  of  a  tree  rubbing  against 
another,  or  by  the  rubbing  of  stalks  of  corn  against  each  other 
in  a  gentle  wind,  as  sometimes  happens  now  in  the  West  Indies. 
The  Greeks  believed  that  Prometheus  stole  it  in  a  reed  from 
heaven. 

The  primitive  way  of  producing  fire  was  by  rubbing  two 
sticks  one  against  the  other,  in  the  form  either  of  the  fire  drill 
or  of  the  stick  and  groove.  The  fire  thus  produced  is  called  in 
Gaelic  tene  eigin,  or,  "  forced  fire."  Tliere  is  no  reference  to 
the  mode  of  producing  this  fire,  nor  is  it,  so  far  as  we  are 
aware,  even  named  in  our  texts.  The  magical  production  of 
fire  is  mentioned,  and  one  wizard  was  called  Lugaid  Delbaith 
— the  fire-producer — who  built  a  large  fire-pile  which  he 
ignited  by  Druidic  power.^^ 

In  Cormac's  glossary  we  find  the  following  : — 

Belltaine,  Mayday,  i.e.,  bil-tane — fire  for  luck,  lucky  fire,  which 
Druids  used  to  make  with  great  incantations,  and  they  used  to  bring 
the  cattle  (as  a  safeguard)  against  the  diseases  of  each  year  to  those 
fires.  (In  the  margm  is  added)  they  used  to  drive  the  cattle  between 
these  fires.20 

The  Gaelic  words  -oo  gmcif  va  •ofAi'Oe  con  cenceclAit*  mop^it) 
imply,  we  think,  that  the  wizards  not  merely  ignited,  but 
made  the  fire.     xX^n^t)  was  the  kindling  of  the  fire. 

Carmichael,  in  the  Carmina  Gadelica  (1901)  gives  a  most 
interesting  account  of  how  this  "  neid  "  fire  was  produced  in 
the  Hebrides  (Innif  Cau),  and  the  attendant  ceremonies.  In 
North  Uist  the  neid  fire  was  produced  by  rapidly  boring  with 
an  auger,  i.e.,  the  fire-drill.  This  was  accomplished  by  the 
exertions  of  the  "  naoi  naomearcind  ginealach  Mac" — the  nine 


)t , 


**  Cat'chisme  de  Meaux,  p.  26( 

"()' Curry  MS.  II.,  220. 

^  CQi'inac'i  Gloss,     19.    Stokea. 


192  :,_EAELY   IRISH   HISTORY. 

Qines  of  first-beg-otten  sons.  Sail  Dairach  (oak  log)  obtained 
its  name  from  the  log  of  oak  for  the  neid  fire  being  there,  A 
fragment  riddled  with  auger  holes  still  remains.  Mr.  Alexander 
Mackay,  of  Reay,  Sutherland,  says  :-*- 

My  father  was  the  skipper  of  a  fishing  crew.  Before  beginning 
:)perations  for  the  season  the  crews  met  at  night  at  our  house  .  .  . 
After  settUng  accounts  they  put  out  the  fire  on  the  heartli.  They 
then  rubbed  two  pieces  of  wood  one  against  the  other  so  rapidly  as  to 
produce  fire,  the  men  joining  in  one  after  the  other,  and  working  with 
the  utmost  energy,  never  allowing  the  friction  to  relax.  Fi-om  this 
friction-fire  they  then  re-kindled  the  fire  on  the  hearth,  from  which  all 
the   men  present  carried  away  a  kindling  to  their  own  houses. 

The  neid  fire  was  resorted  to  in  imminent  or  actual 
calamity,  upon  the  first  day  of  the  quarter,  and  to  ensure 
success  in  great  or  important  events.  A  woman  in  Arran 
paid  her  father  and  the  other  men  of  the  townland  used  to 
make  the  neid  fire  on  the  knoll  on  the  "  La  buidhe  Bealtain  " 
— "  Yellow  day  of  Beltane."  The  fire  of  purification  was 
kindled  from  the  neid  fire, while  the  domestic  fire  was  re-kindled 
from  the  fire  of  purification.  This  was  divided  into  two  fires, 
between  which  the  people  and  cattle  rushed  australly  for 
purposes  of  purification.  The  neid  fire  was  made  down  to  a 
comparatively  recent  period ;  in  North  Uist  about  the  year 
1829  ;  in  Arran,  about  1820 ;  in  Reay,  about  1830.21 

The  production  of  the  neid  fire  in  Erin  would  not  have 
been  prevented  by  the  dampness  of  the  climate.  It  was 
practised  in  Tyrone  at  the  commencement  of  the  last  century, 
probably  by  some  of  the  Scotch,  who  settled  in  that  county 
after  the  confiscations  in  Ulster.  This  appears  from  the 
Collowiug  narrative  which  we  have  condensed  from  the  Journal 
of  the  Kilkenny  Archceological  Society  : — 

Bernard  Bannon  of  Cavancarragh,  near  Enniskillen,  states  that 
when  "  Big  Head  "  appeared  amongst  the  cattle  the  men  of  the  townland 
assembled  on  the  farm  to  make  "  neid  fire,"  and  covered  it  with 
"  scraws,"  and  used  the  smoke  as  a  cure  by  forcing  the  cattle,  with  open 
mouths,  to  hold  their  heads  over  it.  Having  got  two  pieces  of  dry 
wood  two  men  commenced  to  rub  them  violently  together  till  friction 
produced  fire.  He  heard  his  father  say  he  himself  had  helped  to  kindle 
a  neid  fire  and  that  it  was  very  hard  work ;  each  pair  of  men  rubbed 
in  turn.  Before  the  neid  fire  was  made  every  fire  in  the  townland  was 
extinguished.  After  the  cure  every  extinguished^  fire  got  a  burning 
coal  from  the  neid  fire  to  rekindle  it.     He  remembered  when  at  school, 

*^  Carmichael   A.,  Carmina   Gadclica,  vol.  II.,  p.  340  (condensed). 


THE   RELIGION    OF  THE    GAEL  BEFORE   SAINT   PATRICK,        193 

being  then  about  7  years  old,  the  scliolars  telling  that  the  men  in  the 
townland  of  Ratoran  were  all  engaged  at  kindling  a  neid  fire.  Some  of 
the  little  boys  said  they  got  no  school  bread  that  day,  as  all  the  fires 
had  been  put  out.  The  school  was  at  Pubble,  near  Ratoran,  in 
Tyrone.^^ 

Keatinsr  tells  us  that  "  the  festival  of  the  fire  of  Tlachtofa  was 
held  on  the  eve  of  Samhain  (Hallow  E'en),"  and  it  was  made 
obligatory,  under  pain  of  punishment,  to  extinguish  all  the 
fires  of  Erin  on  that  eve,  and  the  men  of  Erin  were  allowed  to 
kindle  no  other  fire  but  that  one,  and  all  the  other  fires  were  to 
be  lighted  from  it.  Keating  further  says  that  the  meeting  was 
held  "  to  make  a  sacrifice  to  all  the  gods  which  was  burnt  in 
that  fire."  Cormac  says  nothing  of  any  such  sacrifice.  The 
wizards,  no  doubt,  as  part  of  their  incantations,  threw  charms, 
etc.,  into  the  fire,  but  there  were  no  sacrifices  of  animals 
or  offerings  of  milk  or  bread  or  fruits,  and  there  were  no  gods 
then  worshipped  but  the  elements. 

Keating  further  says  it  was  their  usage  also  to  light  two 
fires  to  Bel  in  every  district  in  Erin  at  this  season,  and  to  drive 
a  pair  of  each  kind  of  cattle  that  the  district  contained 
between  those  two  fires,  as  a  preservative  to  guard  them 
against  all  the  diseases  of  the  year.  "It  is  from  that  fire,  made 
in  honour  of  Bel,  that  the  1st  of  May  is  called  Biltaini  or 
Bealtaine ;  for  Beltainni  is  the  same  as  Beil-teine,  i.e.,  teine 
Bheil  or  Bel's  fire."  Bel  is  certainly  the  same  as  "  bil,"  the  good, 
new,  and  pure  fire. 

There  is  no  such  celebration  now  on  the  1st  of  May,  but  on 
St.  John's  Eve  (22nd  of  June),  it  is  still  the  custom  to  light  fires 
and  to  go  about  amongst  the  cattle  and  strike  them,  especially 
the  cows  and  bulls,  with  lighted  sheaves  of  wheaten  straw 
called  "  clears "  (luminaria)  to  make  them  vigorous  and 
prolific. 

It  is  generally  supposed  that  the  Church  caused  the  fires  of 
Belteinne  in  Erin  to  be  transferred  from  the  1st  of  May  to  the 
eve  of  Midsummer,  St.  John's  day,  or  June  23rd.  We  are 
inclined  to  think  that  a  ceremony  of  the  kind  was  from  old  time 
attached    to    the    Summer    Solstice.^^      This    by    no    means 


^  Kilkenny  Archceol.  Soc,  4th  series  vol.  6,  p.  64. 

^  The  bulla  were  of  old,  as  now,  admitted  to  the  herds  at,  or  shortly  before, 
the  Summer  Solstice,  with  the  view  of  having  the  calves  born  in  the  following 
April  when  the  grass  is  becoming  plentiful. 


194  EARLY    lEISH   HISTORY.      ~ 

precludes  us  from  assuming  that  there  was  a  somewhat  similar 
function  on  the  1st  of  May.  An  old  pastoral  celebration  of  an 
analogous  kind  was  held  on  the  foundation  day  of  Rome,  the 
21st  April,  called  the  Palilia  or  Parilia,  This  was  an  external 
manifestation  of  the  old  fire-cult.  Fire  was  the  principal  god 
of  the  Aryans — the  religion  of  the  heavenly  light  which 
developed  into  Sun-worship.         / 

Ovid  tells  us  how,  when  a  boy,  he  jumped  over  the  three 
fires  at  this  feast  and  gives  the  prayer  which  was  to  be  repeated 
four  times  by  the  shepherd  while  turning  towards  the  rising 
sun,  and  asking  pardon  for  his  innocent  sins.  "  If  I  have 
pastured  my  sheep  on  holy  ground,  or  sat  beneath  a  holy  tree, 
or  if  a  sheep  of  mine  has  nibbled  the  grass  from  graves,  or  if  I 
have  entered  a  forbidden  grove  I  ask  pardon."  He  then 
prayed  for  the  health  of  himself  and  his  flock : — 

Valeant  hominesque  gregesque, 
Sitque  salix  aries,  conceptaque  semina  conjux 
Reddat ;  et  in  stabulo  multa  sit  agna  meo. 

The  poet  adds,  "  then  across  the  blazing  heaps  of  crackling 
stalks  throw  with  agile  foot  thy  active  frame."  ^ 

The  primitive  house  in  which  the  fire  was  kept  was  pro- 
bably  a  round  hut  made  of  wattled  osiers  daubed  with  mud. 
The  round  form  appears  to  have  been  preserved  in  the  Greek 
Prytaneum,  and  the  Aedes  Vestae  in  Rome.  Fire  was  con- 
sidered the  purest  of  the  Elements  and  Vesta  the  purest  of 
the  gods, 25 

In  Pagan  Rome  "  new  fire  "  was  kindled  at  the  commence- 
ment of  the  Pagan  year.^^     Ovid  tells  us  : — 

Adde  quod  arcana  fieri  novus  ignis  in  aede 
Dicitur  et  vires  flamma  refecta  capit. 

And  that  "  new  fire  "  is  said  to  be  made  in  the  inmost  shrine 
and  the  flame  re-made  is  strens^thened.-^ 

The  primitive  way  of  producing  this  "  new  fire  "  was  by  the 


^*  Vesta,  from  whose  altar  the  suffimcn  of  purification  for  the  Feast  was  taken, 
had  no  idol  image.  She  was  the  Sacred  fire  itself  of  the  hearth  (fffr/rt),  which  was 
also  an  altar. 

Tw  it  dymmrw  rwv    OiCJv    to    Kada^rarov    rS)v    OvrirCiv    (jnXov. — 
Dio  Halicar. 


2^  This  was  at  the  commencement  of  the  old  year,  he  thinks  : — 
Nee  mihi  parva  fides  annos  hinc  esse  priores. — Fast.  III., 
2"  G.  F.  Frazer,  Jour.  Phil.,  XIV.,  145.— Plutarch  Numa. 


THE   RELIGION   OF  THE   GAEL  BEFORE  SAINT   PATRICK.       195 

fire  drill  or  stick  and  groove.  Festus  tells  U8  that  when  the 
fire  of  Vesta  went  out  the  use  was  to  drill  a  piece  of  "  lucky 
wood ''  until  the  fire  was  produced,  which  was  then  carried  into 
the  shrine  by  a  vestal  in  a  brazen  sieve.^^  The  drilling  evi- 
dently took  place  outside  in  the  full  blaze  of  the  sunshine ;  the 
fire  was  from  the  sun. 

In  the  time  of  Plutarch  another  mode  was  sometimes  or 
perhaps  usually  adopted.  "  A  new  fire,"  he  says,  "  must  be 
made  (when  the  fire  of  Vesta  went  out)  lighted  from  a  pure  and 
undefiled  ray  from  the  aun,  not  from  another  fire.  They 
usually  lighted  it  with  basins,  which  they  prepare  hollowed  with 
the  isosceles  sides  of  a  right-angled  triangle,  which  bends  the 
rays  to  one  point."  The  rays  of  light  may  be  concentrated 
either  by  refraction  or  reflection.  In  the  former  case  they 
must  fall  through  a  transparent  refracting  substance,  as  glass 
formed  into  a  proper  shape ;  in  the  latter  they  fall  on  a 
concave  polished  substance  of  silvered  glass  or  bright  metal.^^ 
Plutarch  refers  to  the  latter  mode.  For  the  former  mode 
a  convex  lens  of  crystal  and  the  speculum  ustorium  snad  other 
means  were  used. 

After  the  reception  of  the  Faith,  pure  elemental  fire  was 
thought  to  possess  a  special  sanctity.  And  it  was  not  thought 
amiss  to  appropriate  the  religious  feelings  connected  with  it, 
when  purified  from  superstition,  to  the  uses  of  Christianity. 

On  some  day  in  holy  week — the  usage  varied — the  lamps 
,in  the  churches  were  in  many  places  extinguished  and  the 
Paschal  candlestick  was  lighted  from  the  "  new  fire."  From 
this  source  the  other  lights  in  the  church  were  kindled,  and 
the  various  households  in  the  parish  took  a  flame  to  relight 
their  fires  and  lamps  which  had  been  carefully  extinguished 
beforehand.^ 

The  famous  fire  of  St.  Bridget  at  Kildare  is  probably  an 
adaption  to  Christian  uses  of  an  old  usage  connected  with 
the  prechristian  Cult.  There  were  two  claen  fertas  (sloping 
enclosures  ?)  ^^    at    Tara,   west   of    Rath   Grainne,  which    lies 


^Morem  fuisse  si  quando  ignis  Veste  extinctus  esset  tabulam  felicis 
tnaterise  tain  diu  terebrare  quousque  exceptum  ignem  crebro  seneo  virgo  in  sedem 
ferret. 

2«Numa.  C.  IX. 

*•  Marlene,  H.,  Antiq.  (IV.,  23),  gives  full  and  interesting  details. 

*'  CtAen  f epcA  a  njActcif  Aiji'Dfie. 
ClAen  pefCA  tiA  ClAen-CAinsne. 


196  EARLY   IRISH   HISTORY. 

on  the  summit  of  the  western    face   of  the  hill   and    on  its 
abrupt   slope.     One  of  these    fertas   was  in  aftertime  gener- 
ally referred  to  as  the  place  where  the  maidens  were  slain, 
the  other  as  the  place  where  the  erroneous  judgment  of  Lugaid 
Mac  Con  about  the   measure  of  damages    for   the  trespass  oi 
sheep  was  delivered.  "  In  the  documenta  Patriciana,"  Father 
Hogan,    S.J.,   says  : — "  We  have  the   worn.  fem.   &ing.   Fertoe, 
gen.  Fertas,  dot.  Ferti,  ace.  sing.  Ferti.     We  get  its  form  from 
the  words  fossam  rotundam  in  similitudinom  fertse  (p.  78)  ; 
and  its  gender  from  ad  Ferte  quam  foderunt  viri  (p.  327).^^ 
The  old  word  is  not   found   in  Windisch   Zeuss   or   Stokes's 
"  Glossarial  Index  to  the  Feilire."    Its  meaning  may  be  probably 
followed  thus:  (1)  a  trench  or  dike  with  a  bank  or  ditch  on  the 
edge  of  it,  on  which  a  hedge  might  be  planted,  like  an  ordinary 
farm   fence  ;    (2)    an   enclosed  area ;    (3)   when   there   was  a 
burial  mound  within  it,  a  tomb ;  (4)  a  Fearta  Martar,  where 
the  bones  of  Saints  were  laid ;  (5)  A  miracle.     The  Ferta  is 
thus  described  in  the  Trip.  Life  (237)  :— "  It  is  thus  Patrick 
measured  the  Ferta,  namely,  seven  score  feet  in  the  inclosure 
(is   indies),  and   seven  and  twenty  feet  in  the   great  house 
(is  intig  mor)  and  seventeen  feet,  in  the  kitchen,  and  seven 
feet  in  the  oratory,  and  in  that  wise  it  was  he  used  to  found 
the  church  buildings  (na  Congahala)  always." 

The  diameter  of  the  Ferta  alone  is  given,  from  which 
Stokes  rightly  infers  that  the  Ferta  was  circular.  It  seems 
probable,  we  think,  that  Clonfert,  Ardfert,  etc.,  were  named 
from  Congahala  of  this  kind,  made  like  the  Ferta  of  the  Saint. 

So  in  describing  the  tomb  of  Laoghaire's  daughters,  near 
the  Well  of  Clebach,  it  is  stated,  "  They  made  a  round  trench 
(fossam)  in  likeness  to  a  Ferta,  for  the  Gael  and  the  heathens 
used  to  do  so.  But  by  us  it  is  called,  relic,  i.e.,  reliquioe  and 
feart.  And  the  (Ferta)  was  consecrated  to  God  and  Patrick, 
with  the  bones  of  Saints,  and  to  his  successors,  for  ever.  And 
he  made  a  church  of  earth  in  that  place  (et  ecclesiam  terrenam 
fecit  in  loco).''^^ 

This  means,  probably  as  we  understand  it,  that  he  made 
within  the  Ferta  a  little  seven-foot  oratory,  as  above  mentioned. 

82  Ir.  Ecd.  Rev.  Liber  Angueli,  vol.  vii.,  3rd  series  (1886),  852. 
In  the   Urkeltischer  SprachscAaiz  (Fick),  vol.  ii.,  271,  Fert  is  referred  to  the 
root,  ver.,  verto,  meaning  to  enclose  or  cover. 
S3  Doc.  Patrie,  73,  Trip.  Life,  317. 
See  also  Reeves'  Chtirches  of  Armagh,  49.  I 


THE   RELIGION   OF  THE   GAEL  BEFORE   SAINT   PATRICK.        197 

It  is,  perhaps,  permissible  to  suggest  that  St.  Bridget's  fire 
was  kept  in  a  Ferta  of  this  kind,  and  that  the  Ferta  on  the 
slope  of  Tara,  where  the  maidens  were  slain,  was  used  in  con- 
nection with  the  cultus  of  fire.^* 

"  The  fire,"  says  Giraldus,  "  is  surrounded  by  a  hedge  of  thorn,  or 
some  kind  of  brushwood  (virgeo  quodam  saepe),  forming  a  circle  within 
which  no  male  can  enter  ;  and  if  any  one  should  presume  to  enter,  which 
has  been  sometimes  attempted  by  rash  men,  he  will  not  escape  the 
divine  vengeance.  Moreover,  it  is  lawful  for  women  in  blowing  the  fire 
to  use  only  a  bellows  or  a  fan,  but  not  their  mouths.  In  the  time  of  St. 
Brigid  there  were  twenty  nuns,  she  herself  being  one.  After  her  death 
nineteen  have  always  formed  the  community,  the  number  having  never 
been  increased.  Each  of  them  has  tlie  care  of  the  fire  for  a  single  night 
in  turn,  and  on  the  evening  before  the  twentieth  night,  the  last  nun, 
having  heaped  wood  upon  the  fire,  says  : — '  Brigid,  mind  your  fire.  This 
is  your  night,'  and  so  she  leaves  the  fire,  and  in  the  morning  the  usual 
quantity  of  wood  having  been  consumed,  the  fire  is  found  still  burn- 
ing." ^5  It  was  an  ashless  fire.  It  was,  we  suppose,  in  a  cell  or  oratory, 
and  not  in  the  open  air,  though  Giraldus  makes  no  mentiom  of  any 
building  within  the  enclosure. 

This  fire  was  kept  continually  lighting  from  the  time  of  St.  Brigid, 
until  it  was  extinguished  by  the  order  of  Henry  of  London,  in  1220,  "  to 
take  away  all  occasion  of  superstition."  It  was,  however,  rekindled  and 
kept  lighting  till  the  time  of  Henry  VIII.  There  is  no  statement  that 
it  was  ever  kindled  from  the  teine-eigin,  or  ever  put  out  and  rekindled 
It  was,  however  J  in  the  precinct  of  the  monastery  in  a  sacred  enclosure, 
surrounded  by  a  hedge,  which  no  male  might  enter.  It  was  customary 
in  pagan  times  to  surround  places  struck  with  lightning  with  a  hedge, 
and  Apuleius  speaks  of  such  a  place  as  "  locus  spepimine  consecratus," 
a  place  consecrated  with  a  hedge.  It  was  near  the  famous  oak  that  gave 
a  name  to  the  spot — cill-dara,  the  church  of  the  oak.  The  author  of 
the  4th  Life  of  St.  Brigid  tells  us  :  "  For  there  was  there  a  very  tall 
oak  tree,  which  St.  Brigid  greatly  cherished,  and  she  blessed  it.  The 
trunk  (stipes)  of  it  remains  there  still,  and  no  one  will  dare  to  cut  a  bit 
from  it  with  knife  or  hatchet  (ferro).  But  if  anyone  can  break  a  bit  off 
with  his  hand,  he  counts  it  a  treasure."  ^^ 

Giraldus  often  visited  Kildare,  where  he  saw  the  "  marvellous  Book  of 
Kildare,"  since  lost,  "  containing  the  Four  Gospels,  according  to  St. 
Jerome,  every  page  illustrated  by  drawings,  illuminated  with  a  variety 
of  brilliant  colours.     .     .     The  more  often  and  closely  I  scrutinize  them, 

^  The  Four  Masters  mention  a  ■pe]icA  caoiiac.  Was  this  an  enclosure  for 
folding  sheep  or,  as  O'Donovan  suggests,  a  place  in  which  there  was  a  great 
mortality  and  a  grave  of  sheep  ?  Tigernach  has  Cerhan  escop  o  Ferta  Cerhnin 
mortuus  est.  Was  this  the  grave  of  Ccrban,  or  a  ferta  after  the  manner  of  Ht. 
Patrick,  founded  by  him  ? — Rev.  Celt.,  xvii.,125. 

*'  Erigitla  custodi  ignem  tuum.    Te  enim  nox  ista  contingih. 

^^  QiiercuH  enim  altissima  ibi  erat  quam  multum  S.  Brigida  diligcbat  et  bene- 
dixit  eam,  cujus  stipes  adhuo  manet  et  nemo  ferro  abscindere  audet  et  pro  maguu 
nmnere  habet,  si  qui  potest  frangere  manibupi  aliquid  inde. — Colgan,  SS..  Vol.  It,, 
p.  660. 


198  EARLY   IRISH   HISTORY. 

the  more  I  am  surprised,  and  find  them  always  new,  discovering  fresh 
causes  for  increased  admiration."  '^ 

In  the  worship  of  Mithra  and  the  Avesta-liturgy,  there 
were  psalmodic  prayers  before  the  altar  of  fire.  The 
worshipper  held  a  bundle  of  sacred  twigs  (boresman),  in  his 
hand,  offerings  of  milk,  oil  and  honey  were  made,  and  strict 
precautions  taken  lest  the  breath  of  the  officiating  priest 
should  contaminate  the  divine  flame.^^ 

The  Galtchas  of  Ferghana,  according  to  M.  de  UfFalvy,  are 
so  reverential  that  they  would  not  blow  out  a  light  lest  they 
should  render  the  flame  impure  with  their  breath ;  so  the 
inhabitants  of  Badakshon  and  Bokhara. 

The  Bollandists,  after  citing  Giraldus  textually,  add : — 

As  to  the  religious  motive  for  which  the  nuns  kept  the  fire  of 
St.  Brigid,  as  has  been  stated,  we  have  often  read  in  the  lives  of  the 
Irish  Saints,  that  the  tire  consecrated  specially  by  the  bishop  on  the 
night  of  Easter,  used  to  be  carefully  kept  for  the  whole  year  as  wa  shall 
tell  in  the  life  of  St.  Kieran  (March  5) — Or  the  fire  was  elicited  from 
heaven  by  the  prayer  of  some  Saint,  as  may  be  seen  in  the  life  of  St. 
Kevin.  From  one  or  other  of  these  causes  the  ritual  usages  (ritus)  of 
the  nuns  at  Kildare  appear  to  have  been  derived.^^ 

At  Seir  the  fire  consecrated  by  the  Saint  at  Easter,  from 
which  all  the  fires  in  the  place  were  lighted  every  day,  was 
once  wantonly  put  out  by  the  boy  Cichridug.  St,  Kieran  said 
there  should  be  no  fire  again  until  the  following  Easter  unless 
it  were  sent  from  heaven.  The  monks  and  their  guests  were 
shivering  with  the  cold.  Then  the  saint,  by  prayer,  got  a 
ball  of  fire  from  heaven  by  miracle. 

This  fire  was  probably  obtained  by  the  use  of  the  ustoriutn 
speculum  (burning  glass). 

Flint   and    steel  with  tinder  were   used  for  striking  and 

kindling  fire.     Brendan  struck  fire  from  flint  (silice  ferro  per- 

cusso)  to   cook   his  fish.     This  apparatus  was   called  CenlAC 

Ceinet),  and  was  carried  in  the  "girdle  pocket."    Hence  Ueine- 

Cfe^jM,  girdle  fire.     Tinder  was  called  "sponc,"  and  was  made 

from  dried  leaves  of  coltsfoot,  and  later  of  coarse  brown  paper 

steeped   in  a  solution  of  nitre   and   dried.      Pope  Zacharias, 

writing  to  St.  Boniface,  says  "  The  Irish  kindled  great  fires  at 

nightfall  on  Easter  Eve  from  flints.' 

/ 
"  Top.  Hib.  Dis.  ir.,  c.  38. 

55  The  Mt^derks  of  Mi:h)-a,  23,  by  Ciiinoiit,  F. 

^  13oU..  Ada,  SS.  (1857),  Vol.  i,  p.  114,  Vol.  7,  p.  393. 


THE  RELIGION   OF  THE   GAEL  BEFORE  SAINT  PATRICK.       199 

We  have  very  little  doubt  that  the  Aryan  fire-cult  had  a 
place  side  by  side  with  the  worship  of  the  sun  and  the  other 
elements  in  Erin,  and  that  our  texts  were  carefully  "  cleaned  " 
from  any  reference  to  it.  The  fire  was  probably  kept  at  first  in 
the  King's  great  house,  in  the  women's  quarters,  and  attended  to 
by  the  maidens  of  the  King's  household.  There  was,  no 
doubt,  an  altar  with  representations  or  "  idols "  of  the  sun 
(kjiumi)  there,  whence  it  came  to  be  known  as  the  "  grin  nan."  ^'^ 
The  fire  was  afterwards  kept  in  the  maidens'  ferta.  on  the 
slope,  in  a  shrine  within  it,  or  if  not  kept  there  constantly,  was 
placed  there  for  great  celebrations.  The  most  important  of 
these  would  be  the  making  of  the  "  new  fire  ''  from  the  sun 
itself,  and  we  may  presume  that  it  was  on  such  an  occasion  the 
maidens  were  assembled  who  were  slain  by  the  raiders  from 
Leinster*! 

*"  la  some  parts  of  the  Highlands  almost  up  to  the  present  day  an  enclosure 
or  paddock  was  called  a  grianan.  Bannock's  Irish  Druids,  192,  and  infra,  c.  10, 
the  "  grianan  "  of  Ailcach,  iu  the  Circuit  of  Muircherlad  of  the  Leather  Cloaks. 

■*!" Lynch,"  says  Potrie,  who  does  not  dissent,  "was  of  opinion  that  tlie 
maidens  were  Vodtals."     We  are  unable  to  go  that  length. 


[    200    ] 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

THE  RELIGION  OF  THE  GAEL  BEFORE  ST.  PATRICK. — IL 

''PHE  Druids  now  claim  our  attention.  The  word  Druid 
1  (drai,  gen.,  driiad)  is,  probably,  connected  with  the  root 
"dru,"  a  tree,  which  in  "^pDe"  afterwards  came  to  signify 
an  oak  in  Greek.  The  earliest  oracle  in  Greece  was  in 
Dodona,  in  Epirus,  where  there  was  an  oracular  oak  tree 
which  Odysseus  went  to  consult. 

'E(c  ?pwoc  v\f/iK6iJoio  Atoc  BovXj^j'  IwaKoviTai. 

"  From  the  tree  with  lofty  leafage  Zeus's  will  to  hear." — 

Od.  XIV.,  327. 

The  tree  was  the  (pvyoc,  an  oak  tree,  bearing  an  esculent 
acorn,  and  the  rustling  of  the  leaves  was  believed  to  be  the 
whispering  of  the  tree  god,  who  was  subsequently  absorbed 
into  the  anthropomorphic  Zeus.  Pausanias  says  it  was  the 
eldest  tree  in  Hellas,  except  the  Xwyoc,  within  the  sanctuary  of 
Hera,  at  Samos.^  The  olive  on  the  Acropolis,  the  olive  at 
Delos,  the  laurel  of  the  Syrians,  and  the  plane  tree  of  Menelaus, 
in  Arcadia,  came  next  in  order.  In  Erin  the  trees  of  enchant- 
ment were  the  rowan,  quicken,  or  mountain  ash,  the  hazel, 
the  yew,  and  the  blackthorn.  The  oak,  as  a  magic  wood  is,  we 
believe,  not  mentioned  in  our  texts.  There  was  no  cutting 
of  the  mistletoe  by  moonlight,  as  in  Gaul.  Draoidheacht 
(Druidism)  now  means  enchantment.  It  meant  originally 
"  wizardry"  in  all  its  forms.  Before  the  coming  of  St.  Patrick 
we  find,  within  or  beside  the  class  of  Druids,  the  file,  the  bard, 
and  the  brehon.  The  brehon  was  a  judge  ;  the  file  was  a  poet- 
philosopher;  and  the  bards  occupied  a  subordinate  position, 
and  were  in  the  main  roving  minstrels  and  reciters  of  the  lays 
of  love  and  war.  They  congregated  in  troops,  and  in  the 
course  of  time  became  a  public  nuisance. 

iPaws.  viii.  23.    Frazer,  I.,  401. 


THE   RELIGION    OF  THE   GAEL  BEFORE  SAINT   PATRICK. — II.       201 

As  the  brebon,  the  file,  and  the  bard  emerged  from  the 
Druids  the  latter  became  in  the  main  soothsayers  and  charin 
workers.  They  used  to  be  consulted  as  to  the  success  of 
expeditions,  as  by  Cormac  MacArt,  Dathi  and  others,  as  far 
back  as  the  Tain.  Then  they  took  auguries,  caused  mists  and 
■winds,  etc.,  by  magic,  and  observed  the  flight  of  birds,  the 
passage  of  clouds,  and  the  movements  of  the  stars. 

In  the  De  Divinatione,  Cicero,  addressing  his  brother 
Quintus,  says: — 

The  barbarous  nations  even  do  not  neglect  this  art  of  divination. 
Take  for  instance  the  Druids  in  Gaul,  with  one  of  whom  Divitiacus, 
the  Aeduan,  your  host  and  admirer,  I  was  acquainted.  He  professed  to 
have  a  knowledge  of  natural  science,  which  the  Greeks  call  physiology, 
and  partly  by  auguries,  and  partly  by  soothsaying  (conjectura)  used  to 
predict  what  was  going  to  happen.  "^ 

An  earlier  account  by  Timagenes  is  preserved  for  us  by 
Ammianus  Marcellinus,  who  tells  us  that  Timagenes  was  a 
Greek  by  language  and  erudition  (diligentia),  and  had  collected 
from  many  books  facts  which  had  remained  unknown  for  a 
long  time. 

"  Throughout  the  provinces  of  Gaul,"  Ammianus  con- 
tinues : — 

The  people  gradually  becoming  civilized,  the  study  of  liberal 
accomplishments  flourished,  having  been  first  introduced  by  the  bards, 
the  euhages,  and  the  Druids.  The  bards  used  to  sing  in  heroic  verse 
to  the  sweet  sounds  of  the  harp  (lyra)  the  brave  deeds  of  famous  men  ; 
the  euhages  searched  closely  into  the  forces  and  powers  of  nature,  and 
attempted  to  expound  them.  Amongst  them  the  Druids,  men  with 
loftier  minds,  and  bound  together  in  associations  of  fellowship 
according  to  the  teaching  of  Pythagoras,  ascended  to  speculation  on 
things  high  and  hidden,  and  looking  down  on  what  was  temporal,  pro 
claimed  that  the  soul  was  immortal.^ 

There  is  an  undertone  of  the  rhetorician  Timagenes  in  this, 
especially  at  the  conclusion,  but  it  presents  to  us  a  picture  sub- 

^  Siquidem  et  in  Gallia  Druidre  sunt  e  quibus  ipse  Divitiacum  y5i]duum  cognovi, 
qui  et  iialurte  rationem  quam  divaioXoyiav  Orteci  appellant,  uotam  esse  sibi  profite. 
batur,  et  partim  auguriis  partim  conjectura,  quaj  essent  futura  dicebat. — 
De  Div.  I.  41. 

*  Et  bardi  quidem  fortia  virorum  illustrium  facta  heroicis  composita  versibus, 
cum  dulcibus  lyroe  modulis  cantitarunt,  euhages  vero  scrutaiites  serio  vim 
et  sublimia  naturte  pandere  conabantur  ;  intereos  druidfe  ingeniis  celsiores  ut 
auctoritas  Pytliagorae  decrevit,  sodaliciis  adstricti  consortiis,  questionibus  occul- 
tarum  rerura  altarumque  erecti  sunt,  et  despectantes  humana  pronuutiarunt 
animas  immortales 

Eahagea  =  vates,  soothsayers  (?),  Ammian.  Marcel,  XV.,  g.  2,     Ed.  Eisscnhardt, 


202  EARLY   IRISH   HISTORY. 

stantially  the  same  as  our  texts  present.  The  Druid  is  still  a 
wizard.  When  we  meet  him  in  the  text  of  Caesar,  which  we 
shall  quote,  we  shall  find  that  he  has  changed  his  character  and 
status  completely.  He  has  become  a  sacrificing  priest  and  a 
person  of  the  highest  political  importance,  and  has  acquired  a 
status  and  a  position  which  he  never  attained  in  Erin.  Amongst 
the  Aedui,  for  instance,  according  to  usage  (ex  more),  the 
Druids  elected  Convictolitavis,  chieftain,  in  the  case  of  a  dis- 
puted succession — a  choice  which  Csesar  found  it  prudent  to 
ratify,  * 

M.  Bertrand  is  not  quite  satisfied  with  the  account  Csesar 
gives  of  Druidism  in  Gaul,  and  says  his  statements  require  to 
be  taken  with  some  reserve.  This  may  be  so,  but  the  main 
outlines  of  his  description,  which  is  all  that  we  are  concerned 
with,  are  undoubtedly  true,  and  we  have  no  other  evidence 
equally  trustworthy  to  rely  on.  There  is  no  mention  of  lerne 
or  Hibernia  in  any  classical  text  in  connection  with  Druidism. 
Csesar  says  it  was  supposed  that  the  system  (disciplina)came 
originally  from  Britain,  and  that  many  still  went  there  (he 
does  not  name  any  place  in  Britain)  to  study  the  teaching  more 
carefully.  Tacitus  refers  very  briefly  to  the  Druids  of  Mona 
(Anglesea)  in  describing  the  attack  on  that  place  in  A.  D.  61. 
"  On  the  shore  of  Mona  stood  the  opposing  army  with  its  dense 
array  of  armed  warriors,  while  between  the  ranks  dashed  women 
in  black  attire  like  the  Furies,  with  hair  dishevelled,  waving 
lighted  torches.  All  around  the  Druids,  lifting  up  their  hands 
to  heaven  and  pouring  forth  dreadful  imprecations,  scared  our 
soldiers,  .  .  .  Their  groves,  devoted  to  cruel  superstitions, 
were  cut  down.  For  they  thought  it  rightful  to  cover  their 
altars  with  the  blood  of  captives  and  to  consult  their  gods 
through  the  entrails  of  men."  ^ 

This  statement  is  highly  coloured,  and  must  be  received 
with  great  reserve.  The  inforoiation  did  not  reach  Tacitus 
from  Agricola,  who  had  left  Britain  long  before. 

We  shall  now  give  somewhat  fully  (in  translation)  the 
statement  contained  in  the  6th  Book  of  the  Gallic  V/ar. 

In  all  Gaul  (writes  Ctesar)  there  are  two  classes  of  persons  only 
who  are  held  in  any  consideration  or  honour — for  the  common  folic 
are  reckoned  almost  as  slaves.     The  Druids  are  one  class,  the  knights 

♦  B.  G.,  VII.,  33.  OAnn.,  XIV.,  30. 


THE  RELIGION  OF  THE   GAEL  BEFORE  SAINT  PATRICK  — II.      203 

(warriors)  the  other.  The  former  attend  to  religious  matters,  provide  for 
sacrifices,  public  and  private,  and  expound  questions  touching  religious 
obligations  and  rites.  All  the  Druids  have  one  president,  who  has  the 
greatest  authority  among  them.  On  his  death,  if  one  is  pre-eminent  in 
worth  he  succeeds  ;  if  several  are  equal  they  contend  for  the  presidency 
by  the  vote  of  the  Druids,  and  sometimes  even  by  fighting.  The 
Druids  abstain  from  war  and  pay  no  taxes.  The  main  belief  they  wish 
to  inculcate  is  that  souls  do  not  perish,  but  pass  after  death  from  one 
body  to  another,  and  they  think  this  the  greatest  incentive  to  valour, 
as  it  leads  man  to  despise  death.  They  discourse  much  also  concerning 
the  heavenly  bodies  and  their  movements,  the  size  of  the  earth  and 
the  universe,  and  the  attributes  and  power  of  the  immortal  gods,  and 
impart  their  lore  to  the  young.  The  whole  nation  is  addicted  to  super- 
stition, and  for  that  reason,  those  who  are  afflicted  with  severe  illness,  or 
who  are  engaged  in  war,  or  exposed  to  danger,  either  sacrifice  human 
beings  as  victims,  or  vow  that  they  will  do  so,  and  employ  the  Druids  to 
carry  out  these  sacrifices.  For  they  think  that  unless  the  life  of  man 
be  rendered,  the  mind  (numen)  of  the  immortal  gods  cannot  be  appeased. 
They  have  also  sacrifices  of  the  same  sort  as  public  institutions.  A  little 
before  our  own  time,  slaves  and  retainers,  of  whom  the  deceased 
were  known  to  have  been  fond  used  to  be  burned  along  with  them 
when  a  funeral  was  held  with  full  rites.  It  is  the  god  Mercury  they 
chiefly  worship ;  of  him  there  are  most  images.  Next  to  him  they 
worship  Apollo,  Mars,  Jupiter  and  Minerva. 

The  Germans  differ  greatly  from  these   habits.     For  they  have  no 
Druids  to  preside  at  divine  tvorship,  nor  do  they  practise  (student)  sacri- 
fices.    They  recognize  as  gods  only  those  whom  they  see  and  by  vjhose  aid 
they  are  manifestly  assisted,  naraely,  the  Sun,  Fire  (  Vulcanum),  and  the 
Moon  ;  the  rest  they  have  not  even  heard  of.^ 

What  Caesar  says  of  the  Germans  was  true  of  the  Gael ; 
the  religious  customs  or  superstitions  of  both  were  Nordic. 
There  is  a  silly  story  to  be  found  in  our  texts  of  a  young  girl 
being  fed  on  human  flesh  to  make  her  ripe  for  marriage  at  an 
earlier  age,  a  dietary  which  had  the  desired  result !  It  is  the 
only  mention  made  of  such  a  practice,  and  Keating  acutely 
enough  observes,  that  if  there  were  any  others  they  would  not 
have  been  concealed.  There  is,  in  like  manner,  only  a  single 
instance  recorded  of  what  is  supposed  to  be  human  sacrifice,  if 
we  except  the  Semitic  Cult  already  dealt  with. 

A  poem  in  the  "  Dindsenchus  "  says  that  St.  Patrick,  in  the 
Fair  of  Tailtin,  preached  against  the  three  bloods  : — 

Yoke  oxen  and  slaying  milch  cows, 

And  also  by  him  the  burning  of  the  first  born  (primect). 

It  has  been  suggested  that  "primect"  applies    to    human 

6  B.G.  VI.  13  to  22. 


204  EARLY   IRISH   HISTORY. 

beings.  We  cannot  think  so.  The  poet  would  not  have  placed 
them  after  cows  and  oxen.  It  clearly  means  calves  and  first 
fruits  (primitise).  Moreover,  if  the  poet,  writing  several  centuries 
afterwards,  supposed  that  children  were  sacrificed  in  Erin  in 
the  time  of  St.  Patrick,  it  would  show  his  ignorance  but  not 
prove  the  facts.'^ 

The  burial  alive  of  50  hostages  round  the  tomb  of  Fiachra, 
the  son  of  Eocaid  Muigmeadoin,  is  recorded  in  the  Book  of 
Leinster,  and  the  Book  of  Ballymote : — Fiachra,  and  Aillil 
his  brother,  went  into  Munster  to  lift  pledges,  and  went  with  a 
large  army.  A  battle  was  fought,  in  which  they  were  victo- 
rious, but  Fiachra  was  wounded.  On  his  way  back  to  Tara 
with  50  hostages  and  large  booty,  he  died  of  his  wounds  at 
Forrach,  in  Westmeath.  His  grave  was  dug,  his  lamentation 
rites  performed,  and  his  name  written  in  Ogham.  "  After  which^ 
in  order  that  it  might  be  perpetually  for  a  reproach  to  Munster, 
and  a  fitting  matter  with  which  to  taunt  them,  round  about 
Fiachra's  grave  the  pledges  whom  they  had  brought  out  of  the 
south  were  buried  and  they  alive.'' — B.  B.  The  Book  of  Leinster 
records  that — "  Fifty  pledges  that  Eocaid's  sons  brought  back 
out  of  the  west,  it  was  at  a  month's  end  after  the  battle  that 
Fiachra  was  dead,  and  it  was  around  the  king's  grave  that  the 
pledges  were  buried  alive. "^ 

The  Book  of  Lecan  presents  the  matter  in  a  diff'erent  way, 
and  states  that  the  hostages  fell  on  Fiachra  unawares,  and 
buried  him  alive  {i.e.,  attempted  to  do  so,  we  suppose).  In  any 
case  it  was  not  a  sacrifice.  It  was  punishment  for  attempting 
to  kill  Fiachra  and  escape  ;  or  revenge  for  his  death  from  the 
wounds  he  had  received  fighting  against  Munster;  or  revenge 
accompanied  with  insult.^  In  several  parts  of  Gaul,  and  some 
parts  of  Germany,  before  the  Roman  Conquest,  human  sacri- 
fices were  very  popular,  and  commonly  practised.  These  were 
sacrifices  proper — religious  functions  publicly  conducted  accord- 
ing to  a  fixed  ritual,  by  priests.  There  is  no  pretence  for 
saying  that  there  was  ever  anything  of  the  kind  in  Erin,  except 

»  Sullivau,  M.  and  C,  Vol.  I.,  DCXLI. 

^  Silva  Gaedelioa,  Vol.  2,  p.  377  and  543.  UoclAi-oeT)  A  Lechc  ■]  iioL^xejet)  a 
f  eAfic  "]  ^toliA-otiA-oh  ACluicbe  |cAeinLech  ■]  Uo-ScinbA-oh  a  Ainm  OsAitn.  O'Grady 
does  not  follow  tliis  text.,  which  appears  to  be  ct)rrupt,  Vol.  1.,  334.  Professor 
biiUivan  translates — lii.^  Lcacht  was  made,  and  his  Fert  was  raised,  axid  bis 
Cluicbe  Caeulech  was  ignited.— M.  and  C,  Vol.  I.,  p.  320. 
9  O'Donovan,  Hy  Fiacrach,  345. 


THE  RELIGION  OF  THE  GAEL  BEFORE  SAINT  PATRICK. — II.       205 

the  Semitic  use,  as  we  already  stated  (c.  2),  neither  Druids  nor 
priests  are  named  in  the  III  Brechta,  or  Law  of  Colours. 

There  is  no  evidence  to  support  the  view  that  Druidism 
passed  originally  from  Britain  into  Gaul.  Druidism  as  a  system 
of  wizardry  is  a  phase  in  the  evolution  of  thought  and  cult,  and 
we  find  nothing  to  support  the  view  that  in  Cfesar's  time  it  had 
got  beyond  that  phase  in  Britain ;  and  if  students  went  to 
Britain,  we  suspect  it  was  to  perfect  themselves  in  charm- 
working  and  fortune-telling.  It  may  be  confidently  asserted 
tliat  there  never  existed  in  Britain  an  organization  such  as  we 
find  described  in  the  Commentaries.  If  it  existed,  it  would 
have  been  specifically  mentioned  by  Csesar  or  by  Tacitus.  Its 
political  importance  would  have  arrested  the  attention  of  the 
former  ;  the  latter  would  have  been  curious  to  ascertain  what 
views  they  held  about  the  immortality  of  the  souls  of  great  men — 
the  "  magnse  animse  "  of  Agricola.  And  even  if  the  statements 
as  to  the  practices  in  Mona  were  well  founded,  which  we  do 
not  admit,  no  inference  could  be  safely  drawn  from  what  was 
done  in  an  isolated  locality,  and  probably  by  a  racial  remnant, 
as  to  the  religion  or  religions  of  Britain  in  general,  which  was 
even  then,  we  believe,  largely  occupied  by  men  of  the  Nordic 
stock — e.g.,  the  Belgae  and  others— and  in  particular  by  the 
powerful  nation  of  the  Brigantes,  who  were  the  people  whom 
Agricola  found  to  resemble  the  Gael  so  closely  in  national 
customs  and  intellectual  characteristics. 

We  find  in  the  Leabar  na  h-uidhre,an  old  text.i"  the  "Senchus 
na  relec,"  from  which  it  may  be  inferred  that  the  conception  of 
Monotheism,  if  not  of  Christianity,  had  reached  Erin  some 
centuries  before  the  coming  of  St.  Patrick.  Our  translation  is 
founded  on  that  of  Petrie : — 

"  A  groat  king  of  great  judgment  assumed  the  sovereignity  of  Erin 
i.  e.,  Cor  mac,  son  of  Art,  son  of  Conn  of  the  Hundred  Battles,  Erin 
was  prosperous  in  his  time,  because  just  judgments  were  distributed 
throughout  by  him ;  so  that  no  one  durst  attempt  to  wound  a  man  in 
Erin  during  the  short  jubilee  of  seven  years,  for  Cormac  had  the  faith 
of  the  one  True  God  according  to  the  law  ;  for  he  said  that  he  would 
not  adore  stones  or  trees,  but  that  he  would  adore  Him  who  had  made 
them  and  who  was  a  power  behind  all  the  elements  ^^  (ro  po  comsid 
ar  cul  na  oli  dula),    the   one   strong,  powerful  God  who  formed  the 

"  Facsimile,  p.  50. 

"  Petrie  has  "  had  power  over  oZZ  the  elements."  This,  we  think,  misses  the 
point,  namely,  that  the  power  was  arcul  behind  the  elements. 


20b  EARLY   IRISH   HISTORY, 

dements,  it  is  on  Him  he  would  believe.  And  he  was  the  third  person 
who  had  believed  in  Erin  before  the  arrival  of  Patrick.  Concobar 
Mac  Nessa,  to  whom  Altus  had  told  concernine;  the  passion  of  Christ; 
Moran,  the  son  of  Cairbre  Cinnceat  {i.  e.,  Mac  INlain),  the  second  man  ; 
Cormac  the  third ;  and  it  is  probable  that  others  went  on  their  road  as 
to  this  belief.  And  his  eye  was  destroyed  by  Oengus  Gaibhuaiphnech, 
and  he  resided  afterwards  at  the  house  at  Cletech  (on  the  Boyne^,  for  it 
was  not  lawful  for  a  king  with  a  personal  blemish  to  reside  at  Tara.  In 
the  second  year  after  the  injuring  of  his  eye  he  came  by  his  death  at 
Cletechj  the  bone  of  a  salmon  having  stuck  in  his  throat.^^  _^nd  he 
told  his  people  not  to  bury  him  at  Brugh,  as  it  was  a  cemetery  of 
idolaters,  but  to  bury  him  at  Ros  na  Righ  with  his  face  to  the  east. 
He  afterwards  died,  and  his  servants  of  trust  held  a  council  and 
resolved  to  bury  him  at  Brugh,  the  place  whei-e  the  kings  of  Tara,  his 
predecessors,  were  buried.  ^^  The  body  of  the  king  was  afterwards  lifted 
up  to  be  carried  to  Brugh  and  the  Boyne  (was)  on  the  bank  (i  tleacht) 
high  up  so  that  they  could  not  come.  So  they  took  heed  that  it  was 
unjust  to  override  the  decision  of  the  prince,  to  override  the  last  will  of 
a  king."i* 

The  Four  Masters  state  the  circumstances  attending  Cormac's 
death  as  follows : 

"A.  D.,  266,  the  bone  of  a  salmon  sticking  in  his  threaten  account 
of  the  siabhradh  (genii),  whom  Maeilghean,  the  Druid,  incited  at  him 
after  Cormac  had  turned  against  them  on  account  of  his  adoration  of 
the  True  God  in  preference  to  them.  Wherefore  a  devil  attacked  him 
^t  the  instigation  of  the  Druids,  and  gave  him  a  painful  death." 

The  expression  "  according  to  the  law  "  (do  reir  rechta), 
seems  to  indicate  that  Cormac  was  a  monotheist  awaiting  the 
coming  of  Christianity.  Recht  is  Faithae  are  the  usual  words 
for  the  Law  and  the  Prophets,  and  if  the  tradition  was  that 
Cormac  had  received  baptism  it  would  have  been  clearly 
stated.  In  the  evolution  of  Aryan  thought  a  time  was  sure  to 
3ome  when  the  "  power  behind  the  elements"  would  be  dis- 
severed and  a  system  of  either  polytheism  or  monotheism 
would  be  introduced.  It  is  not  unreasonable  to  suppose  that 
some  knowledge  of  the  teaching  of  Christ,  derived  from  captives 

^'  H.  3,  17,  Trin.  Coll.,  has  "  in  addition."  or  it  was  the  Siabhra  that  killed 
him,  i.e.,  the  Tuatha  De  Dananns,  for  they  wex'e  called  Siahkras, 

^^  Petrie,  Hound  Toiuers,  p.  99. 

^*  About  two  miles  below  Slane  the  Boyne  becomes  fordable,  and  there  are 
seve;al  islets.  On  the  south  bank  is  Ross-ua-Righ — the  Headland  of  the  King ; 
on  the  northern  bank,  in  the  curve  of  the  river,  southwards,  where  stand  Knowth, 
Dowth  and  New  Grange,  was  the  Brugh-na-Boine,  according  to  the  generally 
received  opinion.  A  mound  recently  levelled  was  pointed  out  as  the  grave  of 
Cormac,  "  adjoining  a  pagan  burial  place,  where  human  bones  ave  found  scattered 
about  and  bones  of  great  size  have  been  d^ig  up." — E.  Hogan,  S.J.,  Cath  Ruis-na- 
Rig  for  Boinn,  p.  vi. 


THE  RELIGION  OF  THE  GAEL  BEFORE  SAINT  PATRICK. — II.      207 

and  from  traders  and  dealers,  would  have  given  the  movement 
we  have  indicated  a  monotheistic  impulse,  preparing  the  way 
for  the  Gospel  message. 

We  have  already  seen  that  there  were  Christians  in  Erin 
before  the  mission  of  our  Apostle.  Palladius  was  sent  to 
"  believers,"  and  the  Confession  states  that  many  ("  so  many  ") 
thousand  captives,  who  were  not  obedient  to  their  priests,  were 
sold  into  Erin  like  the  Saint  himself.  It  is  only  reasonable  to 
suppose  that  the  example  and  teaching  of  these  missionaries 
scattered  through  the  land  must  have  borne  fruit.  There  is 
further  a  very  striking  piece  of  evidence  which  has  hitherto, 
strangely  enough,  remained  unnoticed,  and  which  we  regard  as 
worthy  of  very  attentive  consideration.  In  the  Tirechan  text 
we  find  an  account  of  the  Saint's  second  visit  to  Laoghaire,  at 
Tara,  as  follows  : — 

And  St.  Patrick  went  again  to  the  city  of  Tara  to  Loaghaire,  the 
son  of  Neill,  because  he  had  made  a  corupaot  with  him  that  he  should 
not  be  killed  in  his  kingdom  ;  but  he  could  not  believe,  saying — "  My 
father  Niall  did  not  permit  me  to  believe,  but  (wished)  that  I  should 
be  buried  on  the  ramparts  of  Tara,  as  if  antagonists  (viris)  were  halting 
in  battle.  The  son  of  Niall  (on  the  ramparts  of  Tara)  and  the  son  of 
Dimlang  in  Maiston  (Mullaghmast)  in  the  Plain  of  Liffey,  for  the  lasting 
of  hate  as  it  is.  For  the  heathen  used  to  be  buried  in  their  sepulchres 
armed,  with  weapons  ready,  face  to  face  (with  the  foe)  until  the  day  of 
Erdathe,  "  as  the  Magi  call  it,  that  ia  the  day  of  judgment  of  the 
Lord."  15 

The  writer  evidently  means  the  day  of  resurrection ;  the 
grave  is  frequently  referred  to  in  our  texts  as  the  place  of 
resurrection,  "  The  body  of  Laoghaire  was,  according  to  an 
account  in  the  Leabar  na  h-uidhre  '^^  brought  from  the  south 
and  interred,  with  his  armour  of  valour,  on  the  south-west  of 

^^  Perrexitque  ad  civitatim  Tomro  ad  Loigarium  filium  Neil  iterum,  quia 
apud  ilium  fcedus  pepigit  ut  non  occideietur  in  regno  illius  ;  sed  non  potuit  credere, 
dicens.  "  Nam  Neel  pater  meus  non  sinwit  mihi  credere,  sed  ut  sepeliar  in  cacuminibus 
Temro,  quasi  viris  consistentihiis  in  hello,"  quia  utuntur  Gentiles  in  sepulchris  armati 
proniptis  armis  facie  ad  faciem  usque  ad  diem  Erdathe  apud  magos  id  est  judicii 
diem  Domini  "Egojilius  Neil  (incacuminibus  Temro)  et  filius  Dualinge  im  Maistim  in 
campo  Liphi  pro  duritate  odii  ut  est  hoc."  Ut  est  hoc  is  a  Gaelicism,  moti  aca  f  e,  as  it  is, 
"We  think  it  right  as  the  text  is  very  important  to  give  an  alternative  translation 
by  Todd.  "  For  Niall,  mj'  father,  did  not  permit  me  to  believe,  but  (commanded) 
that  I  should  be  buried  in  the  ramparts  of  Tara  (in  cacuminibus  Temro)  as  men 
stand  up  in  battle  for  the  Gentiles  are  wont,  etc.  .  .  I  the  son  of  Nial  (must  be 
buried  after  this  fashion  as  the  son  of  Dunlaing  (was  buried)  at  Msestin  in  the 
Plain  of  Liffey,  because  of  the  endurance  of  our  hatred.'' — Todd,  p.  438,  34a. 

Eogain  Bell,  a  Christian  King  of  Connacht,  ordered  that  lie  should  be  buried  in 
bis  armour,  which  order  was  carried  out  after  his  death  in  A.D.  521.  0'Donov*n 
Hy.  Fiach,  472. 


208  EARLY   IRISH   HISTORY. 

the  outer  ramparb  of  the  Royal  Rath  of  Laoghaire  at  Tara, 
with  his  face  turned  southwards  on  the  men  of  Leinster  as 
fighting  with  them,  for  he  was  the  enemy  of  the  Leinster  men 
in  his  lifetime."  He  was  killed  by  the  sun  and  the  wind,  etc., 
after  a  reign  of  thirty  years,  in  A.D.  458. 

The  passage  is  important  for  two  reasons.  In  the  first 
place  it  suggests  that  in  the  lifetime  of  Niall  (-f  406) 
Christianity  had  not  only  reached  Erin,  but  had  made  a  lodg- 
ment within  the  precincts  of  Tara.  Who  was  inducing 
Laoghaire  to  "  believe"  ?  Was  it  some  captive  Bertha  or  Clotildo 
about  whom  our  texts  are  silent  ?  In  the  next  place  it  pre- 
pares us  for  the  statement  of  Muirchu,  who  tells  us  that 
Laoghaire,  having  reconsidered  the  matter  announced  that  he 
had  come  to  the  conclusion  that  it  was  "  better  to  believe  than 
perish,"  and  accepted  the  Faith.  This  news  we  may  remark 
would  quickly  reach  Rome  and  Prosper  of  Acquitaine.  It  is 
suggested  that  his  implacable  hate  prevented  his  conversion. 
We  do  not  think  the  objection  valid.  If  St.  Patrick  insisted  on 
every  Gael  giving  up  ex  corde  his  tribal  antipathies  before 
admitting  him  to  the  laver  of  baptism  we  suspect  he  would 
have  had  a  very  small  congregation.  Even  nowadays  there 
are  very  many  sound  haters  who  think  themselves,  and  are 
generally  considered,  to  be  tolerably  perfect  Christians.  Nor  need 
the  fact  of  his  taking  the  pagan  oath  two  years  and  a  half 
before  his  death  under  stress  of  circumstances  in  order  that  he 
might  be  released  from  captivity,  make  any  difficulty.  The 
weight  to  be  attached  to  the  taking  of  the  pagan  oath  is  greatly 
overbalanced  in  our  judgment  by  the  fact  that  he  broke  it  very 
soon  afterwards,  not  having  before  his  eyes  the  fear  of  the  sun 
and  the  moon  and  the  wind. 

We  may  not  omit  to  mention  here  a  curious  old  prophecy 
referred  to  by  Muirchu,  and  given  in  a  Latin  version  and  also  in 
a  Gaelic  version,  which  latter,  however,  was  inadvertently 
omitted  by  the  scribe  in  the  text  which  has  reached  us.  It 
shows  the  alarm  of  the  wizards  before  the  coming  of  the  Saint, 
which  was,  no  doubt,  caused  by  the  success  of  the  humble 
efibrts  which  preceded  his  apostolate.  Laoghaire  had  prophets 
and  soothsayers  who  were  able  to  foretell  the  future  by  their 

^^  Leabar  na  h-uidhre,  text  printed  in  Petrie,  Tara,  146- 
"  ni  c«c  immotto  a  |tAtA  'oi  ofo — Ibidem. 


THE  RELIGION  OF  THE  GAEL  BEFORE  SAINT  PATRICK.— II.       209 

evil  arts.  Two  of  those  wizards  often  declared  that  a  foreign 
worship,  destined  to  exercise  great  power,  together  with  a 
certain  hurtful  teaching,  would  be  introduced  from  over  sea 
from  afar ;  a  religion  which  would  be  taught  by  few,  received 
by  many,  and  honoured  by  all,  and  would  overthrow  king- 
doms. They  pointed  out  the  bringer  of  this  teaching  in  a  sort 
of  verse,  often  repeated  by  them,  especially  two  or  three  years 
before  the  coming  of  the  Saint,  which  can  be  expressed  more 
clearly  in  Gaelic  than  in  Latin  : — 

CiepA  CAilchenn  caji  m«i|i  mei|tcenn, 
A  bjiAch  colchenn,  a  ch|iAnn  ctiotnchenn, 
A  tniAf  in  Ai|tcbiuti  A  cije 
■p^iifSenAc  A  muince[i  tiiLe 

^men,  Amen. 

Axehead  will  come  over  a  furious  (?)  sea, 

His  mantle  (chasuble)  head-holed,  his  staif  crook-headed, 

His  paten  (altar)  in  the  east  of  the  house, 

All  his  people  shall  answer 

Amen.     Amen. 

When  these  things  come  to  pass,  our  Kingdom,  which  is  heathen, 
will  not  stand,  ^s 

"  Axehead,"  refers  to  the  form  of  the  tonsure  which,  we  may 
observe,  cannot  have  been  the  Druidical  tonsure,  if  there  was 
such,  as  in  that  case  it  would  not  have  been  distinctive.  To 
describe  it  roughly,  the  Gaelic  tonsure  was  half  a  circle, 
extending  from  a  line  drawn  from  ear  to  ear  at  the  back,  but 
confined  to  the  top  of  the  head,  the  circular  part  lying  front- 
wise, having  a  fringe  of  hair  all  around  it. 

A  good  deal  has  been  written  on  the  form  of  the 
Celtic,  or,  as  we  prefer  to  call  it,  Gaelic  tonsure.  In  oui 
judgment,  Bishop  Dowden  is  perfectly  right  in  his  conten- 
tion that  the  front  part  of  the  head  was  not  completely 
shaved,  as  some  urge,  but  that  there  was  a  fringe  of  hair 
left  to  mark  the  outline  of  the  semi-circle.  "It  is  plain," 
he  observes,  "  that  if  the  whole  of  the  hair  on  the  front  of  the 
head  was  shaved  off  there  would   be  nothing  resemblinj?   a 

'8  Muirchu  gives  Asciput  as  the  Latin  equivalent  for  tailchenn,  and  this  is 
usually  translated  adzehead  ;  we  suggesit  that  axeliead  is  the  bettor  meaning, 
having  regard  to  the  form  of  the  tonsure,  which,  assuming  tliat  there  was  a  frontal 
fringe,  would  correspond  fairly  enough  with  the  shape  of  an  axe,  but  would  not 
correspond  at  all  with  the  shape  of  an  adze.  Ascia,  an  axe  for  hewing  wood  ;  a 
carpeutei's  axe. — Lewis  and  Short,  mhvocf-     'Trip.  Life,  274. 

P 


210  EARLY   IRISH  HISTORY, 

corona  of  hair,"  ^9  We  add  further,  that  in  that  case  their  would 
be  nothinsf  reseinblincr  an  axehead,  whereas  with  the  frinff> 
the  resemblance  of  the  shorn  crown  to  an  axehead  is  striking. 
The  bishop  adds  : — 

"  The  passage  in  Abbot  Ceolfrid's  letter  to  Naiton,  King  of  the  Picts 
(A.D.  710),  preserved  by  Bede,  seems  very  distinctly  to  say  that  viewed 
in  front  there  seemed  to  be  a  crown,  but  that  when  you  looked  at  the 
back  of  the  head  you  discovered  that  what  you  thought  you  saw  was 
cut  short,  was  not  a  real  and  complete  crown." 

The  words  in  Bede  we  translate  : — 

"  Which  (tonsure)  to  look  at  on  the  surface  of  the  forehead  is  seen  to 
present  the  appearance  of  a  crown,  but  when  you  arrrive  at  the  back 
of  the  neck  examining  it  you  will  find  what  you  thought  was  a  crown 
is  cut  short,"  ^^ 

We  understand  this  to  mean  that  the  circle  is  not  com- 
pleted ;  it  is  roughly  a  semi-circle  instead  of  a  whole  circle. 
Ceolfrid  says  the  complete  circle  was  necessary  to  represent 
the  crown.  But  this  is  not  so.  The  Grown  of  Thorns,  which 
the  tonsure  symbolized,  is  represented  by  Correggio,  in  the 
"  Ecce  Homo,"  as  an  incomplete  circle,  and  is  not  widely 
different  from  the  Gaelic  tonsure. 

Another  passage  in  the  same  letter  is  even  more  decisive. 
Ceolfrid  tells  us  that  when  Adamnan  visited  him  he  said  to 
him  : — "  I  beseech  you,  holy  brother,  who  believest  that  thou 
art  going  to  the  crown  of  a  life  that  has  no  end  why,  in  a 
fashion  contrary  to  your  belief,  you  bear  the  form  of  a  crown 
that  has  an  end."  ^^  This  can  only  mean  that  the  coronal  circle 
did  not  go  round,  but  was  ended  before  the  circle  was  complete. 
So  much  for  the  form  of  the  Gaelic  tonsure.  Another  aspect 
of  the  question  will  engage  our  attention  later  on. 

We  do  not  propose  to  enter  here  into  the  "  Pelagian  contro- 
versey  "  raised  by  Zimmer,  All  scholars  are  now  of  one  mind 
that  his  assumptions  are  bold  to  the  verge  of  rashness,  and  his 
inferences  hasty  and  ill-considered.  In  addition  to  what  we 
have  already  written  we  shall  confine  ourselves  to  quoting  the 

*^  Celtic  Church  in  Scotland.     Dowden,  J.,  Bishop  of  Edinburgh,  p.  242. 

^""Quae  (tonsura)  aspectu  in  frontis  quidoin  superiicie  coroaae  videtur 
speciem  praeferre  ;  sed  ubi  ad  ceivicem  cousidenmdo  perveneris  decurtatem  earn 
quam  te  videre  putebus  iuvenies  coronam." — Bede,  V.  21. 

^^  Obseero,  sancte  frater  qui  ad  coronam  te  vitae  quae  terminum  nesciat 
tendero  credis,  quid  contrario  tuae  fidei  habitu  terminataui  in  capite  coronuo 
maginein  portas  ? 


THE  RELIGION  OF  THE  GAEL  BEFOUE  SAINT  PATRICK. — II.       211 

following  passage  from  Professor  Bury.       Referring  to  "  The 
Celtic  Church  in  Great  Britain  and  Ireland,"  he  observes  : — 

"  The  most  striking  part  of  the  sketch  is  the  new  theory  of  Patrick, 
whose  Confession,  once  waived  aside  by  the  author  as  spurious,  is,  alon.' 
with  the  missive  to  Coroticus,  emphatically  admitted  as  authentic.  It 
is  impossible  here  to  criticise  the  theory  which  is  worked  out  with  seduc- 
tive ingenuity,  or  I  should  have  to  raise  the  whole  Patrician  question  ; 
but  I  may  just  say  that  Professor  Zimmer's  theory  seems  to  me  to  have 
two  radical  defects.  It  does  not  account  for  the  facts,  and  it  is  not 
based  on  an  adequate  study  of  the  sources."  ^ 

The  Church  had  not  as  yet  defined  its  teachings  on  the  points 
involved,  and  there  were  many  phases  of  Pelagianism  before  it 
crystallised  into  the  formal  heresy  we  have  already  given  in  out- 
line. It  is  possible,  nay,  probable,  that  some  of  the  views  held 
by  Pelagius,  or  which  were  attributed  to  him  by  adversaries 
with  a  keen  yZa-ir  for  heresy,  or  by  followers  who  were,  so  to  say, 
more  royal  than  the  king,  had  reached  and  were  disturbing 
the  little  Church  in  Erin.  The  fact  that  Palladius  was  sent 
to  the  believers  indicates  that  Rome  thought  there  was  at 
least  a  case  for  inquiry,  possibly  danger  ahead  against  which  it 
would  be  prudent  to  take  precautions.  And  further,  consider- 
ations of  this  kind  may  have  entered  into  the  motives  which 
induced  our  Apostle  in  his  old  age  to  write  his  profession  and 
testimony.  We  shall  not.  however,  pursue  the  matter  further. 
An  essay  on  the  aberrations  of  a  great  scholar  in  a  field  of 
knowledge  which  he  had  not  made  adequately  his  own  would 
be  distasteful  writing  and  unprofitable  reading. 


'-i-^Eng  Hist  Rev   XlX.   (1893>,   534,   and   see  Articles   by   Dr.    M'Carthy, 
Sec.  Rec.  XIV.,  and  Malone  Eccl.  Rec.  XII. 


I    212    3 


CHAPTER  XIV 

THE   SENCHUS   MOR   AND  THE   TRIBAL   SYSTEM. 

IN  olden  time,  before  the  rise  of  Chancery  and  Equity,  the 
laws  of  England  were  divided  into  two  branches — the  Com- 
Dion  Law  and  the  Statute  Law.  The  Common  Law  was  the 
common  custom  of  the  realm,  handed  down  by  tradition  from 
immemorial  time,  and  reposing  securely  in  the  breasts 
of  the  judges.  In  the  same  way  the  tribal  customs  in 
Erin  were  the  common  law  for  each  tribe,  and  remained  un- 
written until  after  the  reception  of  the  faith.  Afterwards  some 
parts  of  this  customary  law  were  reduced  to  writing — those 
parts,  as  it  appears  to  us,  which  from  their  great  detail  and 
enumeration  of  minute  particulars,  could  not  be  entrusted 
safely  to  the  keeping  of  the  most  tenacious  memory.  This, 
however,  was  not  done  officially.  There  was  no  codification  of 
the  customs,  no  digest,  no  work — official  or  non-official — giving 
a  completed  view,  even  in  outline,  of  the  civil  and  criminal 
jurisprudence  of  the  country. 

Spenser,  in  his  View  of  the  State  of  Ireland  (1595),  describes 
the  Brehon  Laws  as  "  a  rule  of  right,  unwritten,  but  delivered 
by  tradition  from  one  to  another,  in  which  oftentimes  there 
appeareth  a  great  share  of  equity  in  determining  the  right  between 
party  and  party ;  but  in  many  things  repugning  both  to  God 
and  man — e.g.,  compensation  for  murder — the  eric  fine,  by 
which  vile  law  many  murders  amongst  them  are  made  up  and 
smothered."  ^ 

'•  The  original  Brehon  Text,"  observ^es  Richey,  one  of  the 
editors,  "  consists  altogether  of  curt  and  proverbial  expressions 
which  rarely  attempt  the  completeness  of  a  sentence,  and  are 
strung  together  without  any  attempt  at  logical  or  grammatical 
connexion.  The  words  are  written  without  stop  or  accent, 
continuously,  without  break.     A  Brehon  judge,  reading  a  pas- 

^  The  BrehonB  delivered  judgment  from  commentaries  and  maxims  {\\oyc&\xi\\) 
•J  FAr<M5ito)  Stokes'  Corm.  Glo^ss.  Fasach,  76. 


THE   SENCHUS   MOR   AND  THE   TRIBAL   SYSTEM.  213 

sfige  for  the  first  time,  would  find  it  difilcnlt  to  understand  it. 
The  customary  rules,  to  be  found  in  the  text,  rarely  atibrd  re- 
liable information.  They  are  intended  to  serve  as  catchwords, 
to  assist  the  memory,  to  recall  what  had  been  previously  com- 
municated, generally  in  a  rhythmical  form,  always  in  language 
condensed  and  antiquated.  They  assume  the  character  of 
abrupt  and  sententious  proverbs,  the  drift  of  which  can  only 
be  vaguely  guessed  at.  Collections  of  such  sayings  are  to  be 
found  scattered  through  the  Brehon  Law  Tracts."  ^ 

There  is  no  treatise  on  any  part  of  the  customary  law  pur- 
porting  on  the  face  of  it  to  be  written  by  a  Brehon,  stating, 
as  was  usual  in  such  case,  the  name  of  the  author  and  the  place 
and  cause  of  writing. 

There  is  a  legend  that  all  those  customs  were  submitted  to 
St.  Patrick,  and  that  they  were  then  purified  and  reduced  to 
writing.  No  such  body  of  laws  has  reached  us,  and  there  is 
no  sound  reason  for  believing  that  any  such  ever  came  into 
existence.  The  texts  which  have  reached  us  are  known  as  the 
Brehon  Law  Tracts,  and  all  the  important  ones  have,  we 
believe,  been  published  in  the  five  volumes  of  the  Ancient 
Laivs  of  Ireland,  issued  in  the  Rolls  Series.  These  tracts 
may  be  divided  into  two  parts.  The  first  part  is  contained 
in  vols,  i.,  ii.,  iii.  (1-79)  of  the  Rolls  Series,  and  comprises 
(1)  The  Law  of  Distress ;  (2)  Hostage,  Sureties ;  (3) 
Fosterage ;  (4)  Saer  Stock ;  (5)  Daer  Stock  ;  (G)  Social  Con- 
nexions ;  and  (7)  The  Corns  Bescna. 

These  constitute  the  Senchus  Mor  (Shanahus  More)  or  great 
old  tradition,  and  are  preceded  by  some  marvellous  prefaces  in 
which  we  are  told  by  one  editor  that  Cormac  MacNessa  was 
Ard  Righ  of  Erin,  and  by  another  that  in  the  reign  of  Cormac 
MacCuelennain  "  there  was  an  opportunity  for  establishing 
legislative  authority,  or  the  enactment  of  laws." 

Distress  is  a  legal  term  with  which  we  are  familiar 
in  the  law  of  landlord  and  tenant.  It  means  the 
seizure  and  detention  of  goods  and  chattels.  Procedure 
to  enforce  a  demand  commenced,  according  to  Gaelic 
custom,  with  the  seizure  and  detention  of  the  defendant's 
goods.  The  object  of  this  was  to  compel  him  to  satisfy 
the  claim,   or  else   to   go   voluntarily  before  the   brehon  to 

"^Ancient  Lau:s,  Vol.  iv.,  p.  x. — and  see  L'histoire  traditionille  de  xU-  tables 
Melanges,  Chaopletou,  1903,  par  E.  Lambert- 


214  EARLY   IRISH   HISTORY. 

have  the  matter  in  dispute  decided  according  to  the  tribal 
custom.  Public  opinion,  and,  probably,  if  necessary,  the  "strong 
hand  "  ^  compelled  the  defendant  to  abide  by  and  perform  the 
award  of  the  brehon,  but  there  was  no  recognized  machinery 
for  legally  enforcing  it.  There  was  no  sheriff  nor  sheriff's 
bailiff  to  execute  the  decree.  In  the  case  of  a  person  belonging 
to  the  inferior  grades  the  text  of  the  law  provided  that  notice 
should  precede  every  distress.  When  a  claim  was  made  against 
a  chieftain  or  a  bishop,  "  fasting  on  "  the  chieftain  or  bishop 
was   the  first   step    in  the  procedure. 

If  the  chieftain  refused  to  cede  to  fasting  he  was  to  pay 
double  the  thing  for  which  he  was  "  fasted  upon."  He  might, 
however,  "  give  a  pledge  to  fasting,"  and  have  the  case  tried. 
If  a  pledge  was  offered,  and  the  fasting  continued  notwith- 
standing, the  claim  was  lost  altogether. 

This  custom  of  fasting  on  a  debtor  existed  in  recent  times, 
and  probably  still  exists,  in  the  Native  Statps  in  India.  In 
Hindu  Law  it  is  called  "  Sitting  Dharna."  "  Dharna,"  observes 
Maine,  "  according  to  the  better  opinion,  is  equivalent  to  the 
Roman  *  Capio,'  i.e.,  seizing  or  distraining."  It  would  thus  be 
equivalent  to  the  Gaelic  At-jAb-xMl  (Distress)  s^b-itn,  being 
equivalent  to  cap-io,  and  fasting  would,  in  reality,  be  a  form  of 
distraining.* 

It  is  erroneously  stated  in  the  Preface  (vol.  ii.,  p.  xl.)  that 
in  the  case  of  a  debtor  who  had  no  property,  if  he  was  of  the 
chieftain  grade,  he  could,  after  one  day's  notice,  be  arrested, 
unless  he  could  get  a  native  to  become  surety  for  his  remaining 
in  the  territory  until  the  case  was  tried.  In  the  case  of  an 
absconding  debtor,  the  "  fine  "  was  liable  after  notice.  Kings 
could  not  be  distrained  in  person  out  of  regard  for  the  dignity 
of  their  office,  but  their  stewards  might  be  distrained  in  their 
stead. 

Fosterage — the  giving  and  taking  of  children  for  nurture — 
was  a  custom  widely  diffused  amongst  Aryan  communities,  and 
occupied  a  position  of  great  importance  in  the  tribal  system 
of  Erin.  It  was  a  social  tie  of  the  most  binding  character, 
uniting  tribesmen  of  different  grades,  and  men  of  different 
tribes  and  septs  in  the  warmest  and  most  enduring  affection. 
It  was  of  two  kinds — fosterage  for  affection  and  fosterage  for 

"  «  II  serait  lynche,"  D'Arbois. 
*  Mainoj  Early  Hist,  038. 


THE   SENCHUS   MOR   AND   THE   TRIBAL   SYSTEM.  215 

reward.     The  tract  contains  minute  regulations  regarding  the 
duties,  liabilities,  and  rights,  attaching  to  both  kinds. 

We  shall  refer  only  to  the  provisions  regarding  education. 
The  sons  of  an  ogaire,  the  lower  grade  of  a  fiaith,  or  noble, 
were  taught  the  herding  and  care  of  lambs,  calves,  kids,  and 
young  pigs  ;  kiln-drying,  and  the  combing  of  wool,  and  wood- 
cutting. The  daughters  were  taught  the  use  of  the  quern,  the 
sieve,  and  the  kneading-trough.  The  sons  of  an  aire-desa,  a 
noble  of  high  rank,  were  taught  swimming,  shooting,  horse- 
manship, chess-playing,  and  horn  playing — their  music.  The 
daughters  were  taught  needle-work,  cutting-out,  and  embroi- 
dering. 

"  A  king's  sons  shall  have  horses  in  times  of  races."  A 
horse  was  to  be  supplied  from  the  time  the  child  attained 
seven  years,  and  horsemanship  taught.  It  was  not  taught  to 
the  Feine-grades,  which  mean  here  the  grades  under  the  grade 
of  Fiaith. 

The  Fosterage  continued  till  the  "  age  of  selection,"  i.e., 
marriageable  age,  which  was  thirteen  for  girls  and  seventeen 
for  boys. 

We  shall  refer  to  the  tracts  dealing  with  saer  stock  and 
daer  stock  in  our  next  chapter. 

The  second  division  of  the  Tracts  comprises  : — (1)  The 
Book  of  Aicill ;  (2)  The  Taking  of  Lawful  Possession  ;  (8) 
Judgments  of  Co-tenancy  ;  (4)  Bee  Judgments  ;  (5)  Right  of 
Water;  (6)  Precincts;  (7)  Of  the  Judgment  of  every  Crime  ; 
(8)  The  Land  is  Forfeited  for  Crimes  ;  (9)  Divisions  of  Land ; 
(10)  Divisions  of  the  Tribe;  (11)  Crith  Gablac ;  (12)  Sequel 
to  Crith  Gablac ;  (13)  Of  Successions ;  (14)  Small  Primer ; 
(15)  Heptads  ;  (16)  Judgments  on  Pledge  Interests  ;  (17)  Con- 
firmation of  Right  and  Law  ;  (18)  Of  the  Removal  of  Covenants. 

Of  these  Tracts,  the  most  important  for  our  purpose  would 

be  the  Crith  Gablac  and  Sequel,  which  purport  to  deal  with 

the  grades  of  society,  if  they  were  at  all  reliable.     This  is, 

unfortunately,  not  so.      The  grades  of  society,  says  the  author 

of  the  Tracts,  are  seven  in  number,  like  the  seven  ecclesiastical 

orders,  "  for  it  is  proper  that  for  every  order  in  the  church 

there  should  be  a  corresponding  order  among  the  people." 

We  adopt  in  regard  to  it  the  views  of  Richey,  who  says  : — 

The  Crith  Gablac   may  be  fairly  characterised  as  the   fantastic 
production  of  an    antiquarian  lawyer  of  a  strong   ecclesiastical  bias, 


21 G  EARLY   IRISH   HISTORY. 

composed  at  a  date  at  which  the  tribe  system  was  breaking  up,  anil  the 
condition  of  the  people,  moral  and  material,  had  much  deteriorated. 
The  work  is  of  the  highest  value  as  an  antiquarian  treatise  rather  on 
account  of  the  general  principles  which  it  assumes,  and  the  incidental 
statements  it  contains  than  from  the  accuracy  of  its  classifications  or  the 
truth  of  its  minute  details,  and  any  deductions  founded  upon  a  belief  in 
its  historic'i.l  value  must  lead  to  conclusions  involving  the  too  common 
error  of  substituting  an  imaginary  for  the  actual  condition  of  the 
people.  ^ 

Of  tliG  other  texts  we  have  enumerated  we  shall  only  refer 
to  the  Book  of  Aicill,  Avhich  occupies  the  whole  of  Vol.  III.  of 
the  Brehon  Law  Tracts,  except  79  pages,  and  is  the  most 
important  of  them.  It  commences  : — "  The  place  of  this  book 
is  Aicill,  near  Tara,  and  the  time  is  the  time  of  Cairbre 
Liffechair,  son  of  Cormac,  and  the  cause  of  its  having  been 
composed  is  the  blinding  of  Cormac  "  (details  as  to  which  we 
have  already  givenV  "  And  Cairbre  used  to  go  to  Cormac  to 
Aicill  about  every  difficult  case,  and  Cormac  used  to  say,  '  My 
son,  that  thou  mayst  know,  and  explain  the  exemptions.' "  It 
is  a  treatise  on  the  criminal  law  and  on  the  law  of  Torts.  It 
contains  such  provisions  as  that  every  judge  was  punishable 
for  neglect,  and  that  the  "  cat  was  exempt  for  eating  the  food 
in  the  kitchen  if  it  was  negligently  kept,  but  not  exempt  if  the 
food  was  taken  from  the  security  of  a  house  or  vessel."^ 

Strangely  enough,  though  it  was  composed  in  part  at  least 
by  Cormac  (227-266),  and  added  to  by  Cenfaelad,  who  was 
wounded  at  the  battle  of  Magh  Rath  (642),  it  is  not  included 
in  the  Senchus  Mor.  To  this  we  must  now  return,  and  place 
before  our  readers  the  legend  concerning  it,  which  is  duly 
chronicled  in  the  first  volume  of  the  Brehon  Law  Tracts. 

According  to  this  legend  Nuada  Derg,  the  brother  of  King 
Laoghaire,  at  his  instigation,  killed  one  of  St.  Patrick's  people, 
*'  that  he  might  discover  whether  the  saint  would  grant  for- 
giveness  for  it."  Then  the  saint  was  angered  and  raised  up 
his  hands  towards  the  Lord  and  remained  in  the  attitude  of 
prayer  with  his  hands  crossed.  And  there  came  a  great 
shaking  and  an  earthquake  at  the  place,  and  darkness  came 
upon  the  sun  and  there  was  an  eclipse,  and  they  say  that  the 
gate  of  bell  was  then  opened  and  that  Tara  was  being  over- 
turned, and  then  it  was  that  Tara  became  inclined.     And  the 

•  Richey,  Anc.  Laws,  III.,  ccvii 

*  -A  mic  6tiA  peifeji  i  t.a  blAc. 


THE  SENCHUS   MOR  AND   THE   TRIBAL   SYSTEM,  217 

Lord  ordered  him  to  lower  his  hands  and  to  obtain  judg- 
ment for  his  servant  that  had  been  killed,  and  told  him  that 
he  would  get  his  choice  of  the  Brehons  in  Erin ;  and  he  consented 
to  do  this  as  God  had  ordered  him. 

He  chose  Dubthac  Mac  Ua  Lugair,  and  this  was  grievous  to 
Dubthac,  and  he  said  :  "  It  is  irksome  to  me  to  be  in  this  cause 
between  God  and  man,  for  if  I  say  that  this  crime  is  not  to  be 
atoned  for  by  eric  fine  it  will  be  bad  for  thy  eric  {i.e.,  the 
honour  price  that  he  would  be  entitled  to,  as  we  shall  see, 
for  the  killing  of  his  servant),  and  thou  wilt  not  deem  it 
good/ 

"  If  I  say  that  eric  fine  is  to  be  paid  and  that  (if  it  is  not 
paid  ?)  it  is  to  be  avenged,  it  would  not  be  good  in  the  sight  of 
God.  For  what  thou  hast  brought  with  thee  into  Erin  is  the 
judgment  of  the  Gospel,  and  M^hat  it  contains  is  perfect  forgive- 
ness of  every  evil  by  each  neighbour  to  the  other.  What  was 
in  Erin  before  then  was  the  judgment  of  the  law,  i.e.,  retalia- 
tion ;  a  foot  for  a  foot,  an  eye  for  an  eye,  life  for  life  "  (when 
the  eric  fine  was  not  paid). 

Dubthac  afterwards  delivered  a  metrical  judgment,  in  which 
he  said ; — 

Yea,  every  living  person  that  inflicts  death  (maliciously) 

Whose  misdeeds  are  judged  shall  suffer  death. 

He  who  lets  a  criminal  escape  is  himself  a  culprit. 

It  is  evil  to  kill  by  a  foul  deed. 

I  pronounce  the  judgment  of  death. 

Nuada  is  adjudged  to  Heaven  {i.e.,  his  soul}. 

The  commentator  adds — It  was  thus  the  two  laws  were 
fulfilled.  The  culprit  was  put  to  death  for  his  crime,  and  his 
soul  was  pardoned  {i.e.,  on  his  baptism), 

After  this  sentence  the  saint  requested  the  men  of  Erin  to 
come  to  one  place  to  hold  a  conference  with  him,  and  the 
Gospel  was  preached  to  them.  "  And  they  bowed  down  in  utter 
obedience  to  the  will  of  God  and  Patrick.  Then  Laoghaire 
said,  '  It  is  necessary  for  you,  men  of  Erin,  that  every  other 

'  We  have  translated  the  text  according  to  our  view  of  the  law.  As  it  stands 
translated  iu  Vol.  I.  we  are  unable  to  understand  it.  When  the  eric  fine  was  not 
paid,  the  talio,  which  was  suspended  only  on  condition  of  the  fine  being  paid, 
revived.  The  Church  elsewhere  fought  against  this,  took  the  culprit  into 
sanctuary,  arranged  the  fine  or  weregild,  and  in  the  last  resort  delivered  him  into 
slavery  on  condition  that  his  life  should  be  spared.  It  is  a  highly  important  text 
wlieu  properly  understood. 


218  EARLY   IRISH   HISTORY. 

law  should  be  settled  and  arranged  by  us  as  well  as  this/  *  It 
is  better  to  do  so,'  said  Patrick.  It  was  then  that  all  the 
professors  of  the  sciences  in  Erin  were  assembled,  and  each  of 
them  exhibited  his  art  before  Patrick,  in  the  presence  of  every 
chief  in  Erin.  It  was  then  that  Dubthach  was  ordered  to 
exhibit  the  judgments  and  all  the  poetry  of  Erin,  and  every 
law  which  prevailed  among  the  men  of  Erin,  through  the  law 
of  nature,  and  the  law  of  the  prophets  (or  seers),  and  in  the 
judgments  of  the  island  of  Erin,  and  in  the  poets."  What  did 
not  clash  with  the  Word  of  God  in  the  written  law  and  in  the 
New  Testament,  and  with  the  consciences  of  the  believers,  was 
confirmed  in  the  laws  of  the  Brehons  by  Patrick  and  by  the 
ecclesiastics,  and  by  the  chieftains  of  Erin,  for  the  law  of  nature 
had  been  quite  right,  except  the  faith  and  its  obligations,  and 
the  harmony  of  the  Church  and  the  people.  And  this  is  the 
Senchus  Mor.  The  entry  in  the  Four  Masters  referring  to 
these  events  is  A.D.  438.  "  The  tenth  year  of  Laoghaire :  The 
Senchus  and  Feinechus  of  Erin  were  purified  and  written." 

The  commentary  states  that  the  Senchus  was  completed  in 
the  ninth  year  after  the  coming  of  Patrick  (432  A.D.)  The 
authors  were,  according  to  the  legend,  and  as  stated  in  Cormac's 
Glossary : — Laoghaire,  Core,  Daire  the  Firm,  three  Kings , 
Patrick,  Benin,  and  Cairnech  the  Just,  three  saints;  Rossa, 
Dubthach,  and  Fergus  with  goodness,  three  sages  of  poetry, 
of  literature,  and  of  the  language  of  the  Feini.  They  were  the 
nine  props  of  the  Senchus  Mor.^    Such  is  the  Legend. 

This  was,  we  are  told,  the  Cain  Patrick,  and  no  human  Brehon 
of  the  Gael  is  able  to  abrogate  anything  that  is  found  in  the 
Senchus  Mor.  The  text  states  it  contained  four  laws:  (1) 
Fosterage  (2)  Saer  stock  (3)  Daer  stock  (4)  Social  relationship, 
and  also  the  binding  of  all  by  verbal  contract,  for  the  world 
would  be  in  a  state  of  confusion  if  verbal  contracts  were  not 
binding.  There  are,  it  states,  three  periods  at  which  the  world 
dies :  the  period  of  a  plague,  of  a  general  war,  and  of  the 
dissolution  of  verbal  contracts.  There  are  three  things  which 
are  paid,  viz. :  Tenths,  first-fruits,  and  alms,  which  prevent 
the  period  of  a  plague,  and  the  suspension  of  amity  between  a 
king  and  the  country,  and  the  occurrence  of  a  general  war. 
These  tenths  and  first  fruits  are  more  specifically  dealt  with  in 
the  tract  called  Corus  Bescna,  which  appears  to  have  been 

*  Cor.  Gloss.,  Noes.  p.  122. 


THE   SENCHUS   MOR   AND   THE  TRIBAL   SYSTEM.  219 

written  by  the  author  of  the  legend,  or  to  have  been  in  part 
copied  from  it.  The  right  of  a  church  from  its  people,  it 
states,  are  tithes,  first  fruits,  and  firstlings.  What  are  firstlings  ? 
Every  first  birth  of  every  human  couple,  every  male  child  of 
the  first  lawful  wife,  and  every  male  animal  of  small  or 
lactiferous  animals.  First  fruits  are  the  first  of  the  gathering 
of  any  new  produce,  whether  small  or  great,  and  every  first 
calf,  and  every  first  lamb  that  is  brought  forth  in  the  year — 
every  tenth  afterwards,  with  a  lot  between  seven  {i.e.,  to  set 
aside  the  three  worst  of  the  ten,  and  cast  lots  between  the  remain- 
ing seven,  according  to  the  commentary),  with  her  lawful  share 
of  each  family  inheritance  to  the  Church,  and  every  tenth  plant 
of  the  plants  of  the  earth,  and  of  cattle  every  year.  All  this 
is  part  of  the  Senchus  Mor.  We  are  asked  to  believe  that  all 
this  was  ordained  by  the  chieftains  of  Erin  within  six  years 
after  the  arrival  of  the  saint.  We  refuse  to  believe  it,  though 
we  admit  that  it  would  be  very  desirable  that  so  extensive  a 
claim  should,  if  rightfully  established,  be  placed  under  the  aegis 
of  our  apostle  and  the  kings  and  chieftains  of  the  country.  We 
refrain  from  saying  anything  about  Dubthac's  judgment.  If 
there  is  anyone  so  constituted  mentally  as  to  believe  that  King 
Laoghaire  allowed  his  brother  to  be  executed  for  killing  the 
charioteer  of  a  foreign  missionary  at  his  request,  no  argument 
of  ours  would  be  likely  to  change  his  opinion.  The  legend,  as 
we  have  seen,  says  nothing  about  the  law  of  distress,  which  is 
now  the  largest  part  of  the  text  of  the  Senchus  Mor,  nor  of  the 
Book  of  Aicill,  which  is  the  most  important,  and,  seemingly, 
the  oldest  of  these  Law  Tracts.  The  oldest  text  o^  the  Senchus 
Mor  is  a  fragment  which  may  be  fixed  at  1350  A.D.  The 
residue  of  the  text  is  one  or  two  centuries  later  than  Cormac's 
Glossary,  which  is  ascribed  by  Stokes  to  the  10th  century.  The 
legend  is  not  mentioned  in  the  Patrician  documents — neither 
in  the  Book  of  Armagh,  nor  in  the  Tripartite  Life.  There  is 
no  doubt,  however,  that  the  Senchus  a,iid  the  other  texts  contain 
much  that  was  old,  very  old,  when  they  were  written,  and, 
taking  the  indications  to  be  found  in  them,  scattered,  confused, 
and  often  contradictory,  as  they  are,  and  supplementing  them 
from  other  sources  of  information,  we  feci  justified  in  presenting 
the  following  views  to  our  readers  : — 

It  is  not  our  purpose  to  open  up  here  the  question  of  the 
origin  of  property  in  land,  or  to  go  very  deeply  into  the  question 


220  EARLY  IRISH   HISTORY. 

of  Tribal  Customs.  It  is,  however,  necessary  to  say  somethinc^ 
about  the  latter.  Seebohm  has  made  a  special  study  of  Tribal 
Custom.  He  has  examined  the  Burgundian  and  Visigothic 
law8,  the  laws  of  the  Salic  and  Ripuarian  Franks,  the  earliest 
Norse  and  Scandinavian  laws,  and  the  laws  of  Scotland.  In 
particular,  he  has  made  a  close  and  minute  examination  of  the 
tribal  system  in  Wales,  recognising,  as  he  tells  us,  "  the  value 
of  a  substantial  knowledge  of  one  tribal  system  as  a  key  to 
unlock  the  riddles  of  others."  ^ 

In  Cymru  (Wales)  the  social  unit  was  a  group  of  kindred 
called  a  "  gwele,"  which  word  is  represented  in  the  Extents  by 
"  lectus,"  and  which  Seebohm  understands  to  mean  a  "  bed." 
The  child  was  received  into  the  "gwele"  on  the  oath  of  the 
mother  in  the  church  where  the  burial-place  of  her  people  was. 
She  placed  her  right  hand  on  the  altar,  and  her  left  hand  on 
the  head  of  her  child.  The  child  was  then  formally  received 
as  of  kin.  Until  the  age  of  fourteen  the  youthful  Cymro  was 
to  be  at  his  father's  platter,  who  up  to  that  time  was  to  be 
responsible  for  him  in  everything.  The  father  then  took  the 
boy  to  the  lord  or  chief  to  commend  bim  to  his  charge,  and 
then  the  youth  became  his  man,  and  he  was  to  answer  every 
claim  himself  thenceforth,  and  to  receive  from  the  chief  his 
da,  i.e.,  an  allotment  of  cattle,  with  the  right  of  joining  in  the 
co-ploughing  of  the  waste  lands.  He  became  a  full  tribesman 
in  his  own  right  by  "  kin  and  descent."  The  gift  of  cattle  was 
apparently  a  binding  of  the  relation  between  the  youth  and  his 
chief. 

It  is,  perhaps,  permissible  to  suggest  that  the  giving  of 
cows,  which  we  shall  meet  with  presently,  in  the  Gaelic 
system,  may  have  had  its  origin  in  a  similar  usage.  The 
gwele  into  which  the  young  tribesman  entered  in  due  course 
was  a  family  group  of  four  generations,  the  landed  rights  of 
which  were  vested  in  the  great  grandfather  as  its  chief  of 
kindred  (penceneadh).^** 

During  the  Hfe-time  of  the  chief  of  the  "  gwele,"  the  shares  of 
his  sons,  i.e.,  the  shares  of  maintenance  which  they  were 
entitled  by  custom  to  get  out  of  the  undivided  land,  stock,  etc., 
were  called,  Seebohm  thinks,  "  gavells."    They  are  described  as 

8  Tribal  Ctistom  in  Wales,  vol.  i.  (1895).  Tribal  Custom  in  Anylo-Sazon  Law 
1902. 

1"  Seebohm    Wales,  64.     Anglo-lSaxon  Law,  22. 


THE   SENCHUS   MOR   AND   THE   TRIBAL   SYSTEM.  221 

*gaven"(a.pparently/a7'm)  in  the  Extents.  On  the  chief's  death 
the  sons  became  chiefs  of  these  gavells  or  sub-gavells,  but  the 
"  gwele  "  did  not  then  break  up.  When  the  two  brothers  (if  only 
sons)  died,  their  sons  would  be  entitled  to  take  equally,  per 
capita,  undivided  shares,  i.e.,  if  one  brother  left  three  sons  and 
the  other  sis,  each  would  take  one-ninth.  When  these  nine 
were  all  dead,  their  sons  (second  cousins)  would  be  entitled  to 
take,  in  the  same  way,  per  capita,  divided  shares,^^  and  the 
"  gwele"  was  then  broken  up.  Females  were  entitled  to  portions, 
which  they  took  out  of  the  "  gwele  "  on  marriage,  and  at  the 
time  of  the  Cymric  Codes,  the  date  of  which  is  disputed 
(probably  of  the  12th  or  13th  century,  embodying  archaic 
usage),  the  orphaned  sons  of  a  deceased  member  were 
allowed  to  take  the  place  of  their  father  in  the  arrange- 
ment  we  have  described.  A  family  group,  somewhat  wider, 
of  seven,  or  in  some  cases  nine,  generations  was  collec- 
tively responsible  in  the  case  of  homicide — a  crime  likely 
to  cause  a  blood  feud  between  kindreds.  The  members 
of  the  contributory  group  paid  the  death  fine  (galanas)  in 
unequal  proportions,  and,  in  turn,  when  one  of  their  group 
was  killed,  the  death  fine  was  divided  amongst  them  in 
the  same  proportions.^-  Within  the  kindred  there  was  no 
death  fine  for  homicide.  The  murderer,  if  it  was  a  case  of 
murder,  was  too  near  in  blood  to  be  slain.  He  was  driven  out, 
became  a  "  kin-wrecked  "  man,  and  fled  like  an  outlaw  to  find 
shelter  where  he  could.  The  payment  of  the  death  fine  was 
thus  a  matter,  not  between  individuals,  but  between  the  two 
Kindreds.  This  outline  will  make  the  Gaelic  system  more 
intelligible.  It  is  unnecessary,  however,  to  go  into  further  detail. 
What  we  have  given  has  been  taken  from  Seebohm's  authorita- 
tive works. 

At  the  reception  of  the  Faith  in  Erin,  society  was  in  the 
cribal  stage  of  evolution.  As  under  the  Cymric  custom,  the 
tribal  unit  appears  to  have  been,  not  the  individual,  nor 
}'et  the  immediate  family,  but  a  group  of  kindred.  Within 
this  group  there  was  social  solidarity,  and,  with  some  excep- 
tions, the  members  of  it  wore  connected  by  ties  of  blood.  This 
group  was  called  a.  fine,  a  word  which  was  also  used  sometimes 


"  Wales,  33, 

"  Anylu-Saxon  Law,  29. 


222  EARLY   IRISH   HISTORY. 

for  the  immediate  family.     It  was  divided  into  four  hearths  or 
grades  of  kindred  : — 


& 


1.  Gail  Fine — Father,  son,  grandson,  brother   ...       4 

2.  Derh    Fine  —  Grandfather,    paternal    uncle, 

nephew,  first  cousin    ...  ...  ...       4 

3.  Gar   Fine  —  Great-grandfather,    great-uncle, 

great-nephew,  second  cousin      ...  ...       4 

4.  Ind   Fine — Great-great-grandfather,   great- 

great-uncle,    great-great-nephew,    third 
cousin  ...  ...  ...  ...       4 

Chieftain  (probably)  ...  ...  ,,,       1 

Total  17 

The  subject  of  the  Four  Hearths  is  obscure,  but  the  fore- 
going is  the  explanation  given  by  M.  D'Arbois,  and  Seebohm 
observes  that  "  viewed  in  the  light  of  other  tribal  systems,  ii 
seems  to  be  nearer  to  the  mark  than  the  various  other  attempts 
to  make  intelligible  what,  after  all,  are  very  obscure  passages 
in  the  Brehon  Law  Tracts.  The  sixteen  persons  making  u[) 
the  four  divisions  of  the  fine  or  kindred  must  be  taken,  I 
think,  as  representing  classes  of  relations  and  not  individuals, 
e.g.,  under  the  head  '  first  cousin '  must  be  included  all  firsD 
cousins,  and  so  on  throughout."  In  the  Brehon  Tracts  the 
number  of  this  group  is  stated  to  be  seventeen  persons,  and 
Seebohm  adds  :  "  He  himself  (the  chieftain)  would  form  tho 
seventeenth  person  on  the  list." 

The  Four  Hearths,  comprising  in  this  way  the  sixteen  grades 
nearest  of  kin  to  the  criminal,  were  liable  to  the  four  hearths 
of  the  man  killed  in  the  cases  where  eric  was  payable,  and 
the  fine  received  in  the  same  proportionas  it  paid.  The  shares 
Df  the  various  grades  were  unequal,  but  fixed  in  definite  pro- 
portions whether  er'ic  was  received  or  paid  by  them.  This 
was  as  between  one  fine  and  another.  As  between  the  culprit 
and  the  other  members  of  his  fine,  in  the  case  of  homicide  oi" 
non-necessity,  i.e.,  "  where  the  death  was  intentional  and  not. 
deserved  by  the  injured  party." — (III.,  697.) — the  murderer 
and  his  property  were  given  up  for  it  in  the  first  instance,  but 
the  liability  of  the  fine  remained  if  this  proved  insufficient. 

In  cases  of  necessary  homicide,  i.e.,  by  misadventure,  and 
so    excusable,    all    the   fine  contributed  proportionally,   the 


THE  SENCHUS  MOR  AND  THE  TRIBAL  SYSTEM.      223 

culprit  not  more  than  his  defined  quota.  In  cases  other  tlian 
homicide,  the  culprit  paid  all  in  the  first  instance,  and  the  person 
injured  received  all  the  compensation. 

The  eric  fine  was  composed  of  two  elements: — 

I. — Corp  dire  or  Body  fine  proper,  which  was  the  same  for  all  classes — 
seven  cumhals  or  twenty-one  cows,  to  which  was  added  one 
cumhal  for  compensation  (aithgen). 

Total  =  Seven  cumhals. 

II. — E?ieelann  (face  price),  usually  called  honour  price,  i.e.,  payment  for 
insult,  which  was  not  confined  to  homicide  and  varied  according 
to  rank. 

These  two,  with  some  exceptional  additions,  made  up  the 
e7'ic. 

Enech-lann  varied  according  to  rank,  and  was  a  most 
important  element  in  tribal  custom.  Besides  entering  into  the 
eric  fine,  it  regulated  the  value  of  the  tribesman's  oath,  his 
guarantee,  his  pledge  and  his  evidence.  It  was  the  honour 
price  of  the  person  injured  or  slain  that  had  to  be  paid.  Seebohm 
states  ^2  that  in  the  case  of  homicide  it  was  the  honour  price 
of  the  slayer,  not  "  the  honour  price  of  the  slain  that  was  to 
be  paid,  i.e.,  the  higher  the  rank  of  the  slayer  the  greater  the 
payment  to  the  kindred  of  the  person  slain."  He  founds  this 
view  very  naturally  on  the  following  passage,  which  he  quotes 
from  the  translation  of  the  Book  of  Aicill,  p.  99  : — "  The  double 
of  his  own  honour  price  is  due  of  each  .  .  .  for  secret 
murder."  On  referring  to  the  Gaelic  text,  however,  it  appears 
to  be  faulty  at  this  point.  The  word  eneclann  does  not  occur. 
The  words  are  -oibU-O  a  lAin  bu-oein.  The  words  should  pro- 
bably be  'oiblA-b  tAw  eneclAinm,  i.e.,  the  double  of  the  full 
honour  price  of  the  person  slain.  That  this  is  so  is  shown  in 
the  Book  of  Aicill  (p.  497).  In  the  case  of  a  chieftain  or  saer 
tribesman  refusing  to  attend,  or  going  away  from  a  hosting,  he 
incurred  both  a  smaet  fine  and  honour  price  fine.  And  it  is 
provided  "  that  whenever  it  is  a  smaet  fine  that  is  paid,  it 
shall  be  paid  according  to  the  rank  of  the  person  who  pays  it. 
And  whenever  honour  price  is  paid,  it  shall  be  paid  accord- 
ing  to    the    rank    of    the    person    to    whom    it    is    paid."  ^* 

'^  Trib.  Oust,  in  A.S.  Laio,  c.  IV.  and  p.  81. 
^^Anc.  Law.  Ill,  99. 


224  EARLY   IRISH   HISTORY. 

Homicide,  undoubtedly,  was  not  an  exception  to  this 
rule.  If  a  king  or  a  bishop  was  killed  by  a  daer  tribesman 
(ceiLe),  would  the  honour  price  of  the  latter  be  accepted  by  the 
fine  of  the  former  ?  Surely  not.  If  the  tribesman  was  satirized 
or  insulted,  if  his  protection  was  violated,  if  he  was  robbed,  or 
his  wife  or  daughter  was  abducted,  his  honour  price  was  the 
measure  of  the  damages  he  was  entitled  to.  So  the  honour 
price  of  the  man  slain  was,  we  make  no  doubt,  the  measure 
of  the  damages  to  which  the  fine  were  entitled. 

The  system  of  eric  fine  found  no  favour  with  the  Angevin, 
or  English  lawyers,  who  came  to  Erin.  There  were  no  hangings 
and  quarterings,  and  above  all  no  forfeitures.  Spenser  thought, 
as  we  have  seen,  that  the  system  led  to  the  commission  and 
screening  of  murder. 

This,  however,  may  well  be  doubted.  The  fine  who  had 
to  pay  the  eric  were,  no  doubt,  a  very  vigilant  police  to 
prevent  such  outrages,  and  punish  the  culprit  when 
they  deemed  it  fit  to  do  so.  The  eric  was  only  a  settlement 
of  the  quarrel  between  fine  and  fine ;  it  did  not  apply  to  inter- 
tribal homicide,  and  our  texts  are  singularly  free  from  records 
of  assassinations,  poisoning,  and  other  malicious  homicides. 
The  talio  is  found  in  nearly  every  civilization  at  a  particular 
stage.  It  was,  no  doubt,  a  step  in  advance.  It  involved  an 
inquiry  before  a  judge  in  most  cases.  It  ordered  men  to  put 
some  curb  on  their  passions,  and  observe  some  proportion 
between  the  injury  and  the  punishment. 

An  eye  for  an  eye  and  a  tooth  for  a  tooth  was  better  than 
that  human  life  should  be  taken,  often  on  suspicion,  for  every 
trifling  insult.  By  it,  however,  the  tribes  were  led  into 
keeping  a  sort  of  debtor  and  creditor  account  of  acts  of  violence, 
and  when  this  went  on  for  a  few  generations,  the  blood  feud 
(fich  bunaed)  was  firmly  established,  and  revenge  became  a 
pious  and  a  public  duty.  In  putting  an  end  to  this,  the  system 
of  eric  fines  was  in  its  turn  useful,  and  found  a  place  in  due 
time  in  every  system  where  the  talio  once  prevailed.  We  do 
not,  of  course,  suggest  that  it  was  as  good  as  the  system  of 
criminal  jurisprudence  which  exists  to-day  amongst  civilised 
nations.  But  we  venture  to  think  if  the  choice  were  offered  to 
an  enlightened  jurist  to-day  to  decide  between  the  eric  system 
and  the  barbarous  system  of  death  penalties  for  petty  theft, 
which  was  the  Draconian  Law  of  England  in  Spenser's  time  and 


THE  SENCHUS  MOR  AND  THE  TRIBAL  SYSTEM.      225 

until   the   beginning   of    the    last   century,   ho   would,   for   a 

community  circumstanced   as   the  Gael  then    were,  give  his 

preference  to  the  eric  system. 

After  explaining  the  meaning  of  the  terms  used  to  indicate 

the  honour  price,  we  shall  now  give  a  list  of  "  honour  prices  " 

of  the  various  ranks  in  the  community,  compiled  with  great 

industry  and  care  by  Seebohm,  from  the  Brehon  Law  Tracts. 

as  accurately  as  the  confused  and  often  contradictory  nature  of 

the  material  permitted. 

The  cumhal.  or  bondmaid,  was  the  highest  barter  unit  in 

Erin.     How  this  came  to   be  so  we  cannot  say.      Ridgeway 

says,  "  in  Homer  the  cow  is  the  principal  barter  unit,  but  the 

slave  is   occasionally    employed   as   a   higher   unit."^^      It   is 

tempting  to  suggest  that  there  was  a  foreign  trade  in  slaves, 

to   account    for    it,   but   we   distrust    tempting    suggestions, 

especially  those  which  we  make  ourselves,  and  prefer  to  wait 

for  better  knowledge  on  this  point.     At  the  time  we  speak  of, 

the  cumhal  was  used  merely  as  a  unit  of  account,  and  was 

reckoned  at  three  great  milch  cows  or  plough-oxen,  which  are 

said   to   have   been    valued    at    twenty-four    screpalls.      The 

screpall,  again,  was  equal  to  three  silver  pennies,  each  of  which 

weighed  eight  grains  of  wheat,  so  that  the  pinginn  was  nearly 

equal  to  the  silver  penny  of  Elizabeth's  time. 

Honour  Price  List.^^ 

Flaith  {Cow  Rent  Bectivers).  Cumlials. 

RiTuaith  ...  ...  ...  ...  7 

Aire  Forgaill,  15  Seds,  ?  30  Seds,  or     ...  ...  6 

f)      J.U.1S1,  -jU      ,,  „        ,•.  •••  4 

„    Ard,         15     „      .                  „  ...  ...             3 

„    Desa,       10    „                      „  •••  •••            2 

Cow  Bent  Payers. 

Bo  Aire,  5  Seds                               or  ...  ...             1 

Og  Aire,  3  Seds  of  Cow  Kind         ,,  ...  ...             1 

Medboth  Man,        Adair t  Heifer  ,,  ...  Colpach  Heifer. 

(The  lowest  grade    (two  years' old)  „  ...  (three  years' old^. 
in  the  free  community). 

In  our  next  chapter  we  shall  consider  the  status  of  the 
tribal  occupier,  and  the  way  in  which  his  rights  were  dealt 
with  at  the  time  of  the  eonfiscations  and  evictions  in  the 
six  counties  of  Ulster. 

"  Ridgeway's  Metallic  Currency,  30,  33. 

^^  The  Sed  here  may  be  taken  to  be  a  Ri  sed,  and  equal  to  a  milch  cow  or 
plough-ox.  All  the  estimates  and  statements  should  be  received  with  great  reserve. 
—Seebohm,  Cxist.  in  A.  S.  Law,  p.  91.  By  cow  rent  we  mean  rent  paid  for  cows 
like  the  rent  of  the  modem  "  dairyman  "  in  Ireland. 

Q 


[    226    1 


CHAPTER  XV. 

THE  TRIBAL   OCCUPIER   AND   SIR  JOHN   DAVIS, 

THE  tribal  district  was  at  first,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  and  after- 
wards in  theory,  considered  to  be  the  property  of  the 
tribe,  and  the  enjoyment  of  it  by  the  tribal  units  was  in  early 
times  of  a  simple  and  easily  intelligible  character.  Specific 
portions  of  it  were  marked  off  for  each  fine  or  family  group 
for  a  dwelling  and  curtilage,  and  some  "  board-land  "  was  set 
apart  for  the  chieftain  for  his  life.  The  remainder  consisted 
of  arable,  pasture,  and  waste  land.  The  pasture  and  waste 
were  used  in  common,  each  group  being  allowed  to  place  so 
many  cows,  horses,  sheep,  etc.,  upon  it. 

We  suggest  that  the  arable  land  was  farmed,  as  in  mediaeval 
times,  by  a  system  of  fallows  in  this  way :  Let  us  suppose  a 
fallow  in  alternate  years.  A  field  of,  say,  one  hundred  acres, 
was  tilled  by  a  certain  number  of  groups  one  year.  Their 
shares  in  the  field  were  measured,  and  were  then  assigned  to 
each  group  by  drawing  lots,  as  is  still  the  custom  in  the  country 
when  a  field  of  old  pasture  is  turned  up  and  let  out  in  half 
acres  for  potato  planting.  The  next  year  that  field  remained  in 
fallow.  In  the  third  year  the  groups  did  not  go  back  to  their 
old  portions,  but  drew  lots  again  for  their  plots  in  the  field.  In 
the  interests  of  good  husbandry  this  system  was  better  than  a 
mere  tenancy  at  will.  Every  tribesman  joined  in  the  field  of  one 
hundred  acres  was  interested  in  having  every  plot  in  it  properly 
tilled,  as  it  might  fall  to  his  own  lot  on  the  next  division.  More- 
over, there  could  be  no  "jerrymandering"  ;  everything  was  fair, 
open,  and  above  board.  Cassar  says  of  the  Germans — "They 
do  not  apply  themselves  much  to  agriculture,  and  their  diet 
consists  principally  of  milk,  cheese,  and  flesh  meat.  Nor  has 
anyone  a  fixed  measure  of  tillage  land  (agri)  and  boundary 
marks  for  himself,  but  the  magistrates  and  chieftains  assign 
}o  the  family  groups  related  in  blood  who  have  come  together, 
the  amount  of  tillage  land  they  think  proper,  where  they  think 


THE   TRIBAL   OCCUPIER    AND   SIR  JOHN   DAVIS.  227 

proper,  and  compel  them  to  change  to  another  (place  or  plot)  the 
ensuing  year.  They  give  many  reasons  for  this.  (1)  That 
they  may  not  be  tempted  by  uninterrupted  use  to  exchange 
tlie  pursuit  of  war  for  agriculture.  (2)  That  they  may  not  be 
eager  to  acquire  large  estates,  and  the  weaker  (tribesmen)  be 
turned  out  of  their  holdings  by  the  more  powerful.  (8)  That 
they  may  not  build  houses  carefully  constructed  to  avoid  heat 
and  cold.  (4)  That  there  may  be  no  greed  for  wealth  wluch 
gives  birth  to  faction  and  discord.  (5)  That  they  may  keep  the 
mass  of  the  people  contented  when  each  man  sees  that  his 
property  is  as  large  as  that  of  the  most  powerful."  Again,  of 
the  Suevi,  he  says  more  briefly — "  There  is  no  tilled  field  amongst 
them  in  private  or  separate  ownership,  nor  do  they  continue  in 
one  plot  (loco)  more  than  one  year  tilling  it."  ^ 

So  Horace  says  of  the  Getae :—"  Nee  cultura  (tillage)  placet 
longior  annua,"  Od.  iii.,  24,  and  Tacitus :  "  Arva  per  annos 
mutant." — Germ.  26. 

Caesar  says,  as  regards  the  Suevi : — "  Men  of  huge  frames  " 
(immani  corporis  magnitudine,  like  the  Gael),  that  they 
changed  from  place  to  place  every  year  for  dwellings  (incolendi 
causa)  as  well  as  for  fallows,  as  we  suggest. 

The  mensal  lands  were  at  first  attached  to  the  chieftainship, 
and  passed  in  succession  from  chief  to  chief.  But  after  a  time, 
whether  by  appropriation  of  these  mensal  lands  or  othewise, 
the  chiefs  and  more  powerful  amongst  them  encroached  on  the 
public  ownership,  and  class  distinctions  were  developed  in  the 
way  Caesar  (writing  the  views  of  a  Roman  Democrat  about 
latifundia)  points  out.  As  regards  Ireland,  this  matter  is 
exceedingly  obscure,  and  we  find  no  intelligible  and  reliable 
information  in  our  texts  enabling  us  to  speak  with  confidence 
until  we  reach  the  period  of  the  confiscations  in  Ulster.  For 
this  reason  we  shall  not  attempt  to  follow  conjecturally  the 
various  stages  of  the  growth  and  development  of  the  organisa- 

^  Agriculturae  non  student,  majorque  pars  eorum  victus  in  lacte,  caseo 
carne  consistit.  Neque  quisquam  agri  modura  certum  aut  lines  habet  proprios, 
sed  magistratuset  principes  in  annos  singulos  gentihus  coynationibusque  hominum 
qui  turn  una  coierunt  quantum,  et  quo  loco  visum  est  agri  attribuunt  atque  anno 
post  alio  transire  cogunt.  Ejus  rei  multas  afFeruut  causas  ;  ne  assidua  consuetudine 
capti  studium  belli  gerendi  agriculturae  commutent,  ne  latos  fiues  parare  studeant 
potentioresque  humiliores  possessionibus  expellant ;  ne  accuratius  ad  frigora 
atque  aestus  vitandos  jedificent,  ne  qua  oriatur  pecuniae  cupiditas  qua  ex  re 
factiones  dissensionesque  nascuntur,  ut  animi  aequitate  plebem  contineant  cum  suas 
quisque  opes  cum  potentiasimis  aequari  vident. — Bell.  Oall.  vi.,  22.  The  similarity 
between  the  Gael  and  Nordic  Germans  in  religion,  social  customs,  and  skulls,  is 
striking  and  suggestive. 


228  EARLY   IRISH   HISTORY. 

tion  of  society,  and  shall  doal  very  briefly  with  the  intermediate 
period. 

The  Gael,  like  the  Germans,  did  not  apply  themselves  much 
to  agriculture.  The  principal  wealth  of  the  tribe  consisted  in 
herds  and  flocks — in  cows,  pigs,  sheep  and  horses.  The  tribal  units 
had  a  right  to  pasture  a  certain  number  of  horses,  cows  and  sheep 
on  the  common  pasture  lands,  and  to  place  a  certain  number  of 
swine  in  the  common  woods  ;  having  regard  to  the  number  of  the 
population  there  was  enough  and  to  spare  for  everybody.  The 
only  pasture  land,  held  in  severalty,  was  certain  "  board  land  " 
assigned  to  the  chief.  Long  before  the  time  of  the  Brehon 
law  tracts,  many  changes  had  taken  place.  Society  had  become 
divided  sharply  into  free  and  unfree  classes.  To  begin  at  the 
bottom,  there  was  a  large  body  of  slaves,  the  probable  number 
of  whom  there  is  no  means  of  estimating.  Next  in  order 
probably  came  a  class  of  persons  called  fuidirs.  They  are 
supposed  by  some  to  have  been  non-tribesmen — strangers  from 
another  tribe,  or  foreigners  who  came  to  reside  on  a  chieftain's- 
land.  After  three  or  four  generations,  like  the  Cymric  Attilds, 
they  probably  became  recognised  as  freemen.  In  the  fourth 
generation,  it  is  said,  they  perhaps  became  daer  botach,  half 
free,  and  in  the  fifth,  sencleithe.  This  is  what  might  be  ex- 
pected from  the  analogy  of  other  systems  ;  but  we  are  not  in  a 
position  to  speak  with  any  certainty  on  details,  as  the  accounts 
we  have,  and  the  meanings  assigned  to  the  terms  midbod 
fuidir,  daer  botach  and  sencleithe  are  not  uniform. 

Next  in  the  ascending  scale  came  the  cow-rent  payers.  These 
stood  below  the  FlaitJis.  In  the  Senchus  Mor  there  is,  as  we  have 
seen,  a  treatise  on  saer  stock  and  on  daer  stock.  This  mode  of 
occupation  is  referred  to  in  the  translation  as  "  saer  stock  tenure 
and  daer  stock  tenure."  The  texts,  however,  refer  to  the  letting 
and  hiring  of  stock  exclusively,  and  are  silent  as  to  the  letting 
of  land.  In  the  case  of  "  saer  stock,"  the  letting  was  without 
security,  and  so  it  was  called  "  saer,"  i.e.,  a  free  letting.  In 
the  case  of  "  daer  stock,"  the  letting  was  with  security,  and 
the  hirers  were  called  "  daer,"  i.e.,  unfree  hirers,  or  giallna. 
.  The  chief  could  compel  the  tribesmen  to  take  a  certain 
quantity  of  stock  without  security  (f^ef-pAc).  On  the  receipt 
of  saer  stock  the  tribesman  was  bound  to  yield  homage,  and  at 
the  end  of  three  years  to  give  a  sed,  i.e.,  a  cow,  in  addition,  or 
to  pay  an  equivalent  in  food,  rent,  etc.,  and  also  to  do  some 


THE   TRI13AL   OCCUPIER   AND  SIR   JOHN   DAVIS.  229 

labour  at  the  erection  of  the  dun  (fort)  and  the  reaping  of  the 
harvest;  he  was  bound  also  to  go  on  military  service. 

No  one  was  bound  to  take  daer-stock  even  from  his  own 
chieftain,  or  king.  It  was  a  matter  of  contract.  The  saer-tenant 
could  not  separate  from  his  chieftain,  unless  the  latter  was 
indigent  and  so  required  his  stock  back.  Nor  could  the  chieftain 
require  his  stock  back  unless  the  tribesman  became  indigent 
and  the  security  of  the  stock  was  placed  in  danger. 

The  food  rent  was  free  to  the  successor  of  the  chief  (flaith)  for  the 
chief  is  not  competent  to  forgive  the  food  rent  so  as  to  bind  his 
successor  (113). 

Saer  stock  or  daer  stock  from  an  external  chief  might  be 
returned  or  claimed  back  at  any  time.  As  regards  daer  stock 
it  could  not  be  received  without  the  consent  of  the  tribe,  which 
shows  that  the  ownership  of  the  tribe  land  was  in  the  tribe 
and  not  in  the  ri,  flaith  or  bo-aire  individually. 

The  stock  is  received  either  with  or  without  the  knowledge  of  the 
fine  by  the  tribesman  (ceile) ;  for  if  it  was  unknown  to  them  [that  he 
did  so],  they  could  impugn  his  contracts  ;  but  if  it  was  with  their  know- 
ledge though  the  stock  be  ever  so  great  it  is  fastened  upon  them, 
(page  222). 

From  the  ri-tnaith  to  the  Bo-aire  and  ogaire  the  various 
grades  of  society  were  bound  together  by  the  nexus  of  stock, 
taking.  At  each  step  the  inferior  takes  stock  from,  and  pays 
food-rents  to,  the  higher.  When  the  Brehons  came  to  the 
Ard-ri  they  were  puzzled.  Honour-price  was  fixed,  as  we 
have  seen,  by  rank,  and  rank  was  estimated  and  delimitated 
by  stock-taking.     From  whom  did  the  Ard-ri  take  stock? 

Four  times  seven  cumhals  to  the  King  of  Erin  without  opposition, 
for  which  (being  without  opposition)  lie  received  stock  from  tlie  King 
of  the  Romans,  or  it  was  by  the  co-arb  of  Patrick  the  stock  was  given 
to  the  King  of  Erin  ;  but  whichever  of  them  is  supposed  to  give  stock 
to  the  King  of  Erin,  it  is  not  to  show  giallnahivvag  in  him,  but  to  show 
honour  price.  (225). 

The  sketch  we  have  just  given  shows  that  the  tribe  and 
every  member  of  it  had  definite  rights  in  the  tribal  laud,  that 
the  land  belonged  to  the  tribe,  and  that  nothing  could  be 
further  from  the  real  facts  of  the  case  than  the  pretence  that 
the  chieftain  or  ri<jh  was  a  kind  of  owner  in    fee-simple  or 


230  EARLY   IRISH  HISTORY, 

allodial  owner,  of  the  tribal  lands,  and  that  the  tribesmen  were 
tenants  at  will  on  his  estate  and  liable  to  be  evicted  by  him  or 
by  anyone,  the  Crown  not  excepted,  claiming  through  him. 
We  shall  now  consider  how  the  tribal  occupier's  rights  were 
dealt  with  at  the  time  of  the  confiscations  and  evictions  in  the 
six  counties  of  Ulster. 

On  the  accession  of  James  I.  in  1603  the  Irish  policy 
adopted  by  the  Government  in  the  first  instance  was  to  "  settle  " 
the  various  "  countries,"  and  establish  freeholders.  This  was  in 
eflfect  a  return  to  the  enlightened  policy  of  Henry  VIII.,  who 
had  stood  out  tenaciously  against  the  project  of  confiscation 
and  plantation,  which  his  hungry  courtiers,  demoralized  by 
the  plunder  of  the  churches  and  monasteries  in  England,  urged 
persistently  upon  him.  This  wise  policy  was  not,  however, 
maintained.  If  the  English  courtiers  had  sharp  appetites,  the 
Scottish  crew  who  followed  in  the  wake  of  the  Stuart  were 
famished.  And  the  monarch  then,  or  a  little  later  on,  was 
borrowing  money  at  ten  per  cent,  for  the  public  service.  The 
Exchequer  being  empty,  the  courtiers  should  look  elsewhere 
to  gratify  their  cravings. 

Appointed  Solicitor-General  in  1603,  and  Attorney-General 
in  1606,  Sir  John  Davis  held  office  until  1619,  and  it  was 
during  his  time,  and,  to  a  large  extent,  by  his  actions  and 
instrumentality,  that  the  policy  of  forfeiture,  confiscation,  and 
eviction  was  substituted  for  the  policy  of  conciliation  and 
the  conversion  of  the  tribal  occupiers  into  freeholders.  The 
various  phases  of  the  policy  appear  in  the  correspondence 
between  Davis  and  Salisbury,  from  which  we  make  extracts. 
The  italics  are  ours. 

In  April,  1604,  Davis  wrote  to  Salisbury  :— 

He  (i.e.,  the  Earl  of  Tyrone),  seeks  to  secure  that,  by  an  order  from 
the  State,  all  the  tenants  who  formerly  dwelt  in  his  country,  but  are 
now  fled  into  the  Pale  and  other  places  to  avoid  his  extreme  cutting 
and  extortion,  should  be  returned  unto  him  by  compulsion ;  albeit 
these  tenants  had  rather  be  strangled  than  returned  unto  him.  I 
hope  to  see  in  the  next  Parliament  an  Act  passed  in  this  land  that 
shall  enjoin  every  great  lord  to  make  such  certain  and  durable  estates 
to  his  tenants  as  would  be  good  for  themselves,  good  for  their  tenants, 
and  good  for  the  Commonwealth. 

It  does  not  stand  with  reason  of  State  or  policy  that  Tyrone  should 
have  such  interest  in  the  bodies  of  the  King's  subjects ;  for  it  was  ihis 
usurpation  upon  the  bodies  and  persons  of  men  that  made  him  able  to 
make  war  upon  the  State  of  Engiaad,  and  make  his  barbarous  followers 


THE  TRIBAL   OCCUPIER  AXD   SIR   JOHN   DAVIS.  231 

think  they  had  no  other  king,  because  their  lives  and  their  goods 
depended  upon  his  will.  In  England,  "  Tenants  at  will "  enabled 
Warwick  and  the  great  lords  in  the  Barons'  wars  to  raise  so  great  a 
multitude  of  men.  Whereas,  at  this  day  (tenancies  at  will  being 
replaced  by  fixed  estates),  if  any  of  these  great  lords  of  England  should 
have  a  mind  to  stand  upon  their  guard — well,  they  may  have  some  of 
their  household  servants  or  retainers,  or  some  few  light-brained, 
factious  gentlemen  to  follow  them.  But  as  for  their  tenants — these 
fellows  will  not  hazard  the  losing  of  their  sheep,  their  oxen,  and  their 
corn,  and  the  undoing  of  themselves,  their  wives,  and  their  children,  for 
the  love  of  the  best  landlord  that  is  in  England.^ 


^o' 


Chichester  was  appointed  Deputy,  and,  in  the  phrase  of  tbo 
period,  "  came  to  the  sword,"  in  Dublin,  on  February  8rd, 
1605.  lie  was,  it  would  appear,  instructed  to  pursue  the 
policy  recommended  by  Davis.  Soon  after  his  appointment, 
he  issued  a  proclamation  which  had  been  prepared  beforehand, 
and  which  bears  date  March  11th,  1604.  This  highly  important 
proclamation  states  that  the  Deputy  had  received  Letters 
Patent  from  the  King,  in  which,  after  signifying  his  desire  to 
establish  the  commonwealth  and  the  realm  (of  Ireland),  he  took 
particular  notice  of  two  mischiefs  there.  The  first  was  the 
renewing  of  claims  and  challenges  concerning  private  injuries 
and  public  offences  during  the  late  rebellion.  This  he  reme- 
died by  granting  a  full  amnesty  up  to  the  20th  March  in  the 
first  year  of  his  reign.  The  second  mischief,  which  concerns  us 
more  nearly  here,  was  "  the  continuance  of  such  oppressions 
and  exactions  as  had  been  usurped  by  divers  chief  lords  of 
countries,  on  the  bodies,  lands,  and  goods  of  the  tenants  and 
freeholders  of  the  same,  whereby  the  said  tenants  and  inhabitants 
were  enforced  wholly  to  depend  on  the  will  of  their  said  lords, 
being  deprived  by  reason  of  their  ignorance  and  the  remote 
places  wherein  they  dwelt,  of  that  benefit  of  the  Common  Laws 
and  royal  protection  which  his  other  subjects  enjoyed  to  their 
unspeakable  comfort."  The  Lords  and  gentlemen  of  countries 
were,  in  remedy  of  this,  forbidden  to  imprison  for  debt,  trespass, 
or  private  displeasure,  or  to  levy  any  fine  without  lawful 
warrant  of  the  ordinary  Minister  of  Justice. 

As  regards  the  lands  situate  in  these  countries,  the  proclama- 
tion states  that  the  lords  who  had  received  Letters  Patent  of 
territories  from  the  Crown,  under  colour  of  the  general  words  in 
the  Patents,  "  claim  and  challenge  to  themselves  the  interest 

*  Jr.  Cal.,  J,  60  and  100,  condensed. 


232  EARLY   IRISH   HISTORY. 

and  possession  of  such  lands  as  divers  ancient  freeholders  and 
their  ancestors  had  been  lawfully  seized  of,  within  the  said  terri- 
tories, by  course  of  inheritance,  beyond  the  time  of  memory  ;  the 
said  lords  and  gentlemen  alleging  sometimes  that  the  said  free- 
holders were  but  tenants-at-will ;  and  sometimes  that  they 
have  forfeited  all  the  said  lands  by  the  late  rebellion,  whereas, 
in  truth,  the  most  part  of  the  said  freeholders  were  driven  into 
rebellion  by  the  said  lords  and  gentlemen  themselves,  and  yet 
were  never  attainted  for  the  same ;  but  having  received  his 
Majesty's  gracious  pardon  for  their  said  defection,  so  as  then 
they  stood  as  clear  and  upright  in  the  law  as  any  other  loyal 
subjects."  The  mischief  was  remedied  by  declaring  that 
according  to  the  true  intent  and  meaning  of  the  Patents,  the 
general  words  did  not  affect  the  interests  of  the  freeholders,  and 
the  lords  were  strictly  enjoined  to  allow  them  to  enjoy  the 
same  without  extorting  cuttings  or  exactions. 

There  were  also,  the  proclamation  states,  on  divers  scopes 
and  extents  of  land,  persons  who  had  no  certain  estate  nor 
place  of  habitation,  and  the  lords  were  enjoined  so  to  dispose 
of  their  lands,  as  to  receive  certain  rents  and  duties,  and 
forbear  from  the  use  and  usurpation  of  cuttings  and  cosherings.^ 

It  is  not  at  all  likely  that  the  condition  of  the  general  body 
of  tribal  occupiers  was  at  all  benefited  by  this  proclamation. 

In  the  summer  of  1616,  Davis  accompanied  the  Lord 
Deputy  (Chichester),  the  Chancellor  and  others,  in  a  visitation 
they  made  in  the  counties  of  Monaghan,  Fermanagh  and 
Cavan,  with  the  view  of  settling  these  countries,  and  making 
freeholders.  In  a  letter  to  Salisbury  he  gives  a  very  full 
account  of  the  state  of  Fermanagh  (Maguire's  country),  which 
shows  that  the  tribal  arrangements  we  have  described,  though 
impaired  by  the  usurpations  of  the  chieftains,  were  still  in  the 
main  preserved. 

"  "We  found  Fermanagh,"  he  wrote,  "  to  be  divided  into  seven 
baronies,  containing  each  7i  ballybetaghs  of  land,  in  all  51|  bally- 
botaghs  of  land,  chargeable  with  Maguire's  rent  and  other  contributions 
of  the  country.  In  addition  there  were  free  lands,  (1)  Termon  or 
church  lands,  (2)  Mensal  lands  of  Maguire,  (3)  Privileged  lands  of 
■  Chroniclers,  Rhymers  and  Gallowglasses,  This  amounted  to  about  two 
ballybetaghs. 

'  The  contention  was  that  the  attainder  included  the  inferior  tenants,  whilst 
the  new  Patents  did  not  expressly  mention  their  interests,  and  that  consequently 
their  interests  were  not  resuscitated,  and  that  the  new  patentees  took  the  land  dis- 
charged from  them. 


THE  TRIBAL  OCCUPIER   AND  SIR   JOHN   DAVIS.  233 

"  IMaguire's  mensal  lands  lay  in  several  baronies,  and  did  not  ex- 
ceed four  ballybetaghs.  They  were  free  from  charges  of  the  country, 
because  they  yielded  a  large  proportion  of  butter  and  meal  and  other 
provisions  for  IMaguire's  table.  Besides  these  food  rents  (from  the 
Mensal  lands),  Maguire  had  about  240  beeves  yearly  paid  unto  him 
out  of  the  seven  baronies,  and  about  his  castle  at  Enniskillen  he  had 
about  a  half  ballybetagh,  which  he  manured  (tilled)  with  his  own 
churls.  .  .  .  There  are  many  gentlemen  who  claim  estate  of  free- 
hold in  that  country  by  a  more  ancient  title  than  Maguire  himself  doth 
to  the  chief  rie."  ^ 

The  area  of  Fermanagh  is  289,228  statute  acres,  of  which 
at  least  115,000  are  arable. 

Joyce  gives  the  usual  acreage  of  the  ballybetagh  in  tabular 
form  : — 

1  Tricha,  ced,  or  luath  equal  30  Ballybetaghs. 

1  Ballybetagh  „      12  Sesrachs  (or  plough  lands). 

1  Sesrach  „    120  Ir.  acres.* 

A  ballybetagh  or  townland  was  sufficient  to  maintain  "  300 
cows  without  one  touching  another;"  it  contained  3,500  statute 
acres. 

We  may  supplement  this  description  by  a  reference  to  Sir 
Toby  Caulfield's  account  of  the  Earl  of  Tyrone's  estate,  over 
which  he  was  appointed  receiver  after  the  flight  of  the  Earl. 
This  valuable  document  shows  (1*^)  That  no  certain  portion  of 
land  was  let  by  the  Earl  to  any  of  his  tenants,  as  they  are 
called  ;  (2"^)  that  the  rents  received  by  the  Earl  were  received 
partly  in  money,  partly  in  victuals,  oats,  butter,  pigs,  sheep, 
etc. ;  (3^)  that  the  money-rents  were  chargeable  on  the  cows 
that  were  milch  or  in  calf  that  grazed  on  his  lands,  at  the 
rate  of  twelve  pence  the  quarter  the  year ;  the  cows  to  be 
numbered  at  May  and  Hallowtide. 

The  amounts  of  the  rent  for  the  years  ending  Hallow- 
tide, 1608,  1609,  1610,  were  £2,102,  £2,862,  and  £2,847 
respectively.  We  understand  these  to  be  rents  from  the 
demesne  lands  of  the  Earl,  stated  to  be  in  the  counties  of 

'Fermanagh,  at  the  close  of  the  sixteenth  century,  consisted  of  a  certain 
number  of  ballybetaghs,  each  of  which  contained  four  i|uarters,  and  each  quarter 
four  iates  (a  name  peculiar  to  Cavan  and  Monaghan).  Thus  each  ballj^betagh 
contained  sixteen  fates,  each  tate  being  estimated  at  60  ^  Irish  acres.  The  tate 
continuing  in  local  use  was  stereotyped  there  as  a  townland  containing  on  the 
average  184  statute  acres.  The  ballybetagh,  according  to  this,  was  =  184  x  16  = 
2,944  statute  acres. — Reeves'  Froc.  l!y.  Ir.  Ac,  vii.,  477.  In  the  survey  made  for 
the  Plantation,  according  to  HiU  (107)  these  tales  are  set  down  as  thirty  acres 
Irish  or  thereabouts,  and  the  undertakers  got  them  at  this  estimate. 

*  Soc.  Ir  ,  I.  40,  II.  372. 


234  EARLY  IRISH   HISTORY. 

Tyrone,  Armagh,  and  Coleraine.  Sir  Toby  was  appointed  to 
take  charge  of  such  lands  and  territories  as  belonged  to  the 
traitor  in  T3-rone,  Coleraine,  and  Armagh.  Allowing  the  then 
value  of  money  to  have  been  over  fifteen  times  as  much  as  at 
present,  the  rental  was  moderate  for  his  demesne  lands  alone.^ 

The  food  rents  of  Maguire's  mensal  lands  were  contained  in  a 
parchment  roll  in  the  possession  of  O'Brislan,  a  chronicler  and 
principal  brehon  of  that  country.  O'Brislan  was  summoned  ; 
he  said  the  roll  had  been  destroyed  by  the  English,  but  the 
Lord  Chancellor  "  did  minister  an  oath  unto  him.  The  old 
man,  fetching  a  deep  sigh,  confessed  that  he  knew  where  the 
roll  was,  but  said  that  it  was  dearer  to  him  than  his  life,  and 
that  he  would  never  produce  it  unless  the  Lord  Chancellor 
would  take  a  like  oath  to  return  it.  The  Lord  Chancellor, 
smiling,  gave  his  hand  and  word,  and  thereupon  the  old  brehon 
drew  the  roll  out  of  his  bosom.  "  When  it  was  translated,  we 
perceived  how  many  porks,  how  many  vessels  of  butter,  and 
how  many  measures  of  meal  and  other  such  gross  duties  did 
arise  unto  Maguire  out  of  his  mensal  lands.  In  time  of 
peace  he  did  exact  no  more ;  marry,  in  time  of  war  he  made 
himself  owner  of  all,  cutting,  i.e.,  exacting,  what  he  listed,  and 
imposing  as  many  bonagJits  or  hired  soldiers  upon  them  as  he 
had  occasion  to  use.  In  the  late  war  he  hired  them  out  of 
Connact  and  Breifne  O'Reilly,  as  his  own  people  were  inclined  to 
be  scholars  and  husbandmen  rather  than  kerne." 

"  We  called  unto  us  the  inhabitants  of  every  barony  severally, 
and  had  present  several  of  the  clerks  or  scholars  of  the 
country,  who  knew  all  the  septs  and  families,  and  all  their 
branches,  and  the  dignity  of  one  sept  above  another,  and  what 
families  or  persons  were  the  chiefs  of  every  sept,  and  who  next, 
and  who  were  of  the  third  rank  and  so  forth  till  they  descended 
to  the  most  inferior  man  of  all  the  baronies.  Moreover,  they 
took  upon  them  to  tell  what  quantity  of  land  every  man  ought 
to  have  by  the  custom  of  their  country,  which  is  of  the  nature 
of  gavel  kind,  whereby  as  their  septs  or  families  did  multiply 
their  possessions  have  been  from  time  to  time  sub-divided  and 
broken  into  many  such  parcels  as  almost  every  acre  of  land 
hath  a  several  owner,  which  termeth  himself  a  lord  and  his 
portion  of  land  his  country,  notwithstanding  that  Maguire  him- 
self had  a  chiefry  over  all  the  country  and  some  demesnes 

»  Ir.  CaL,  III.,  532. 


THE  TRIBAL  OCCUPIER   AND   SIR  JOHN   DAVIS.  235 

that  did  pass  to  him  only,  that  carried  that  title.  So  was  there 
a  chief  of  every  sept,  who  had  certain  services,  duties  or 
deviesnes  that  ever  passed  to  the  tanist  of  that  sept,  and  never 
was  subject  to  division"  All  these  details  they  took  down, 
descending  to  such  as  possessed  two  tuaths.  There  they 
stayed,  as  they  knew  that  "  the  purpose  was  to  establish  free- 
holders fit  to  serve  on  juries,  and  less  than  two  tuaths  would 
not  make  a  40s.  freehold  per  annum  ultra  reprisalim,  and, 
therefore,  were  not  of  competent  ability  for  that  service,  yet 
the  number  of  freeholders  named  in  this  country  was  above 
WO." 

This  report,  made  out  in  this  way,  was  handed  to  the 
Deputy,  who  called  the  principal  inhabitants  into  the  camp, 
and  told  them  that  he  came  on  purpose  to  understand  the 
state  of  every  particular  man  in  that  country,  to  the  end  that 
he  might  establish  and  settle  the  same.  His  lordship's  speech 
and  good  demonstration  to  the  people  gave  them  great  con- 
tentment. "  Touching  the  inferior  gentlemen  and  inhabitants 
it  was  not  certainly  known  to  the  State  in  Dublin  whether 
they  were  only  tenants  at  will  to  the  chief  lords  (whereof  the 
uncertain  cuttings  which  the  lords  used  upon  them  might  be 
an  argument),  or  whether  they  were  freeholders  yielding  of 
right  to  their  chief  lord  certain  rents  and  services,  as  many  of 
them  do  allege,  affirming  that  Irish  cutting  was  an  usurpation 
and  a  wrong." 


[    236     ] 


CHAPTER  X^.— (Continued.) 

THE   TRIBAL   OCCUPIER  AND   SIR  JOHN   DAVIS. 

DAVIS  was  thus  at  first  fully  in  agreement  with,  and  an 
energetic  advocate  of,  the  policy  we  have  indicated,  and 
his  views  were,  no  doubt,  fully  shared  by  the  Deputy  Chichester. 
It  was  probably  with  the  view  of  bringing  more  prominently 
into  relief  the  precarious  character  of  the  possession  of  the 
inferior  occupier  of  the  soil  that  the  Deputy  obtained  from  the 
judges  the  following  Resolution  ^  as  to  the  legal  character  of 
what  was  called  the  Irish  custom  of  gavelkind : — 

First  it  is  to  be  known,  reporbs  Davis,^  that  in  every  Irish  territory 
there  was  a  lord  and  chieftain  and  a  tanist,  who  was  his  successor 
apparent.  And  of  every  Irish  sept  or  lineage  there  was  also  a  chief 
who  was  called  a  Cennjinny  or  Cajmt  Cognationis.  All  the  possession 
within  the  Irish  territories  (before  the  common  law  of  England  was 
established  in  this  realm  as  it  now  is)  ran  always  either  in  course  of 
tanistry  or  in  course  of  gavelkind.  Every  seigniory  or  chiefry,  with  the 
portion  of  land  which  passed  with  it,  went  without  partition  to  the 
tanist,  who  alwaj's  came  in  by  election  or  the  strong  hand,  and  not 
by  descent,  but  all  the  inferior  tenancies  were  partible  between  the 
males  in  gavelkind.  Yet  the  estate  which  the  lord  had  in  the  chiefrv 
or  which  the  inferior  tenants  had  in  gavelkind  was  not  ap  estate  of 
inheritance  but  a  temporary  or  transitory  possession  ;  for  as  the  next 
heir  of  the  lord  or  chieftain  was  not  to  inherit  the  chiefry,  but  the 
oldest  and  worthiest  of  the  sept,  as  is  shown  before  (F.  78)  in  the  case 
of  tanistry,  who  was  often  removed  and  expelled  by  another  who  was 
more  active  and  strong  than  he,  so  the  lands  of  the  nature  of  gavelkind 
were  not  partible  amongst  the  next  heirs  male  of  him  who  died  seized, 
but  amongst  all  the  males  of  his  sept  in  this  manner.  The  Cennjinny, 
or  chief  of  the  sept  (who  was  commonly  the  most  ancient  of  the  sept), 
made  all  the  partitions  at  his  discretion,  and  after  the  death  of  any 
tenant  who  had  a  competent  portion  of  land,  assembled  all  the  sept,  and 
having  thrown  all  their  possessions  into  hotchpot  made  a  new  partition 
of  all,  in  which  partition  he  did  not  assign  to  the  son  of  him  who  died 
the  portion  which  his  father  had,  but  he  allotted  to  each  of  the  sept, 
according  to  his  seniority,  the  better  or  greater  portion.  .  .  Also, 
by  this  custom,  bastards  had  their  portion  with  the  legitimates,  wives 

^  It  is  reported  by  Davia  himself  in  Law  French.     Wo  give  it  translated  and 
abridged. 

•■»  Hill  3,  Jacobi,  1606. 


THE   TRIBAL   OCCUPIER   AND  SIR  JOHN    DAVIS.  237 

were  excluded  of  dower,  and  daughters  were  not  inheritable  although 
their  fathers  had  died  without  male  issue.  By  the  custom  of  Kent  the 
lands  were  partible  among  the  male  heirs,  bastards  were  not  admitted, 
wives  were  entitled  to  dower,  females  in  default  of  males  inherited. 
The  Irish  custom  was  agreeable  in  several  of  these  points  to  the  custom 
of  gavelkind,  which  was  in  use  in  N.  Wales,  which  was  reproved  and 
reformed  by  the  Statute  of  Rutland  made  12  E.  I.,  and  utterly  abolished 
by  the  Statute  34  H.  VIII.,  c.  28.  For  these  reasons,  and  because  all 
the  Irish  countries  and  the  inhabitants  were  from  thenceforward  to  be 
governed  by  the  rules  of  the  common  law  of  England,  it  was  resolved  and 
determined  by  all  the  judges  that  the  Irish  custom  of  gavelkind  was  void 
in  law,  not  only  for  the  inconvenience  and  unreasonableness  of  it,  but 
because  it  was  a  mere  personal  custom  and  could  not  alter  the  descent 
of  inheritance.  And  all  the  lands  of  these  Irish  countries  were  adjudged 
to  descend  according  to  the  course  of  the  common  law. 

This  resolution  was  not,  our  readers  will  understand,  a 
decision  or  judgment  of  a  court  in  a  case  pending  before  it, 
but  rather  an  opinion  of  the  judges,  which  was  registered 
amongst  the  Acts  of  Council.^  The  proviso  was  added  that  if 
any  of  the  Tnere  Irish  possessed  and  enjoyed  any  portion  of 
land  by  the  custom  of  gavelkind  up  to  the  commencement  of 
the  king's  reign  such  person  should  not  be  disturbed  in  his 
possessions,  but  should  be  continued  and  established  in  it,  but 
that  afterwards  all  lands  should  be  adjudged  to  descend 
according  to  the  Common  Law.* 

The  word  gavelkind  does  not  occur  in  the  Brehon  Law 
tracts,  nor  any  word  like  it,  nor  is  there  any  trace  to  be  found 
in  them  of  the  "  hotchpot  custom  "  mentioned  in  the  resolu- 
tion; nor  is  there  any  evidence  to  be  found  outside  the 
resolution  to  support  the  statements  as  to  it  therein  contained. 
Hallam,  Gardiner,  and  other  careful  and  reliable  historians 
were  naturally  misled  by  this  report  of  Davis.  The  resolution, 
which  was,  probably,  satisfactory  to  the  Deputy,  was  based,  so 
far  as  it  had  any  basis,  on  the  knowledge  which  the  English 
lawyers  and  judges  had  of  the  custom  of  Kent,  and,  more 
particularly,  of  the  custom  in  N.  Wales,  which  is  referred  to  in 
the  resolution.     Hallam  refers  to  the  "  exact  similarity  "  of  the 

^  The  Council  Book  is  not  known  to  exist  at  the  present  time. 

*  Oavelkind.  The  name  implies  that  it  was  originally  a  tenure,  by  "  gavel," 
i.e.,  the  payment  of  rent  or  other  fixed  services  other  than  military.  This  agrees 
with  the  identification  of  it  with  Socage,  kind  =  geoynd,  kind  or  species.  The 
application  of  the  Kentish  word  to  the  Welsh  and  Irish  system  of  succession  led 
to  the  notion  that  the  word  was  of  Celtic  origin,  an  alleged  Irish  gabhail-cine 
from  gabhadl  taking,  and  dne  tribe  or  sept,  appears  with  the  rendering  gavelkind 
in  O'Reilly's  Dictionary,    (Murray's  Die,  sub.  voce.) 


288  "LiARLT   IRISH   HISTORY. 

custom  of  Irish  gavelkind  "  to  the  rule  of  succession  laid  down 
in  the  ancient  laws  of  Wales,"  and  adds,  "  It  seems  impossible 
to  conceive  that  these  partitions  were  renewed  on  every  death 
of  one  o£  the  sept.  But  they  are  asserted  to  have  taken  place  so 
frequently  as  to  produce  a  continued  change  of  possession." 

In  after  times  the  custom  of  gavelkind  was  not  only  legalised 
but  made  compulsory  in  the  case  of  the  estates  of  Catholics  by 
the  statute  2  Anne,  unless  the  eldest  son  conformed  to  Pro- 
testantism within  a  limited  time  after  the  death,  in  which  case 
the  estate  went  to  him  in  course  of  primogeniture. 

Another  case,  known  as  "the  case  of  Tanistry,"  came  before 
the  Dublin  court  afterwards  and  is  reported  by  Davis.  It 
may  be  conveniently  referred  to  here.  The  lawyers  of  that 
day  misunderstood  by  tanist,  the  chieftain  or  lord  of  a  country. 
The  true  meaning  in  Gaelic  is  second,  i.e.,  next  to  succeed. 
The  case  was  an  ejectment  on  the  title  to  recover  O'Callaghan's 
country  in  Cork.  The  general  issue  was  pleaded  and  a  special 
verdict  found.  The  plaintiff  claimed  through  a  tanist,  i.e., 
chieftain,  who  was  elected  according  to  the  Irish  custom,  which 
was  found  in  the  special  verdict,  to  be  as  follows : — "  That  when 
any  person  died  seized  of  the  lands  claimed  then  such  lands 
ouo^ht  to  descend,  and  have  time  out  of  mind  descended  to 
the  oldest  and  most  worthy  of  the  blood  and  name  (seniori  et 
dignissimo  viro  sanguinis  et  cognominis),  of  the  person  so  dying 
seized,  and  that  the  daughters  of  such  person  were  not  inherit- 
able." The  judges  held  (1)  That  this  custom  was  unreasonable 
and  void,  ab  initio  ;  (2)  That  it  was  void  for  uncertainty  ;  it 
could  not  be  reduced  to  certainty  by  any  trial  or  proof,  for  the 
dignity  (i.e.,  worth)  of  a  man  lieth  in  the  opinion  of  the  multi- 
tude, which  is  the  most  uncertain  thing  in  the  world.  Again, 
"  the  estate  was  uncertain.  The  Tanist  hath  not  an  estate  of 
inheritance  in  his  natural  capacity,  because  the  oldest  and  most 
worthy  doth  not  take  as  heir,  for  the  most  worthy  comes  in  by 
election,  and  not  as  heir,  and  the  tanist  hath  not  an  inheritance 
by  succession  in  a  politic  capacity  because  he  is  not  incorporate 
by  the  common  law  as  a  person,  etc.,  and  if  he  hath  only  an 
2state  for  life  it  cannot  descend,  and  so  he  hath  no  estate 
whereof  the  law  can  take  notice." 

This  decision  is  not  in  conflict  with  the  view  we  have  pre- 
sented that  the  ownership  of  the  Tribal  land  was  in  the  tribe  who 
gave  an  estate  for  life  only  to  the  chieftain  in  the  mensal  lands. 


THE   TRIBAL   OCCUPIER   AND  SIR   JOHN   DAVIS.  239 

Legally,  it  stands  on  a  different  footing  from  the  resolution  in 
the  case  of  gavelkind.  Here  the  court  had  seisin  of  a  duly 
constituted  cause,  and  declared  a  judgment  which  bound  not 
only  in  the  particular  case,  but  was  entitled  to  be  followed  in 
the  administration  of  the  law  in  every  subsequent  case  of  the 
same  kind  until  it  was  reversed.  The  Resolution,  on  the 
contrary,  lacking  all  these  essentials,  was  nothing  more  than 
the  private  opinion  of  jurists  formed  without  argument  of 
counsel,  and  possibly  with  a  view  to  political  requirements 
without  taking  evidence,  and  probably  on  assumptions  derived 
from  the  custom  of  Kent  and  the  Cymric  Codes — in  fact,  on 
those  views  which  Davis  says,  as  we  shall  see  presently,  that 
both  he  and  the  Chief  Justice  found  on  exact  inquir}^  to  be 
wholly  erroneous. 

In  the  summer  of  1606  the  judges  went  on  circuit  in 
Ulster,  and  afterwards  Davis,  who  was  then  serjeant-at-law, 
went  with  the  Chief  Justice,  Sir  James  Ley,  to  Waterford, 
Wexford,  and  Wicklow.^  On  his  return  he  wrote  to  Salisbury 
(November  11th): — 

On  our  return  we  understood  that  not  many  days  before  the  Earl 
of  Tyrone  had,  in  a  violent  manner,  taken  a  great  distress  of  cattle 
from  O'Cahan  (5who  hath  married  his  bastard  daughter),  and  pretended 
to  be  lord  of  all  that  country  that  beareth  the  name  of  Colraine  (Derry).  I 
mention  this  to  you,  not  in  respect  of  the  riot,  but  to  make  an  overture 
to  you  of  good  advantage  which  I  confess  I  understood  not  before  I  made 
my  last  jourhey  into  Ulster.  I  thought  without  question,  and  so  it  was 
generally  conceived  by  us  all,  that  the  Earl  of  Tyrone  had  been  entirely 
seized  in  possession  and  demesne  of  all  the  country  of  Tirone,  being  in 
length  sixty  miles  and  in  breadth  nearly  thirty,  and  that  no  man  had  one 
foot  of  freehold  in  that  country  but  him  self, 'except  the  bishop  and  farmers 
of  the  abbey  lands.  .  .  But  now  on  our  last  northern  journey  we 
made  so  exact  an  inquiry  of  the  estates  and  possessions  of  the  Irishery 
that  it  appeared  unto  us  (i.e.,  the  Chief  Justice  and  himself)  that  the 
chief  lords  of  every  country  had  a  seigniory  consisting  of  certain  rents 
and  duties,  and  had,  withal,  some  special  demesne,  and  that  the 
tenants  or  inferior  inhabitants  were  not  tenants-at-will,  as  the  lords 
pretended,  but  freeholders,  and  had  as  good  and  large  an  estate  in 
their  tenancies  as  the  lords  in  their  seigniories,  and  that  the  uncertain 
cuttings  and  exactions  were  a  mere  usurpation  and  a  wrong,  and  were 
taken  de  facto  and  not  de  jure  when  the  lords  made  war  one  upon  the 
other,  or  joined  together  in  rebellion  against  the  Crown.  This  we  found 
to  be  universally  and  infallibly  true  in  all  the  Irish  countries  in  which 
we  held  assizes  this  last  summer  : — namely,  in  the  several  countries  of 
McMahon,  Magyre,   O'Reilly  in   Ulster,  and   in  the  countries   of    the 

s  Ir.  Cat.  II.,  19. 


240  EARLY   IRISH   HISTORY. 

Birnes  {O'Birnes)  and  Cavanagh  in  Leinster,  The  suggestion  is  that 
these  inferior  freeholds  were  vested  in  the  Crown  by  the  Act  of  Attainder 
of  Shane  O^NeU  (II.  Eliz),  and  not  regranled  in  the  Queen'' s  subsequent 
Patent  to  the  Earl,  and  thai.  I  should  be  directed  to  prefer  informations 
of  intrusion  against  the  occupiers  of  these  lands  with  a  view  to  a  Plan- 
tation. 

The  villainy  of  this  overture  is  appalling.  Even  if  Davis 
was  right  in  point  of  law,  which  we  have  no  doubt  he  was  not, 
a  more  dishonourable  suggestion,  considering  the  pardon  and 
proclamation^  and  public  declarations  of  the  Deputy  already 
mentioned,  was  never  made  by  a  law  officer  to  a  monarch. 
This  was  before  the  flight  of  the  Earls,  which  took  place  on  the 
14th  September,  1607.7 

Ministers  in  London  did  not  fall  in  with  the  overture  of 
Davis ;  but  no  evidence  is  now  forthcoming  as  to  what  reply 
was  made  to  him.  Possibly  the  matter  was  under  consideration 
when  the  situation  was  completely  changed  by  the  flight  of  the 
Earls.  We  shall  see  presently  how  Davis  changed  his  plans 
and  fashioned  his  legal  opinions  to  suit  altered  circumstances. 
The  Earls  fled  on  the  14th  September,  1607,   and  about  ten 

•  See  the  "words  of  the  Proclamation,  ante. 

■^  By  the  Ilth  Eliz.,  C.  1,.  S.  1.  (the  attainder  of  Shane  O'Neill),  it  was  enacted  thai 
Shane  O'Neill  should  forfeit  to  her  Majesty  his  lands  and  goods,  and  that  his  blood 
should  be  C9rrupt  and  disabled  for  ever.  S.  2,  made  the  use  of  the  name  O'Neill 
treason.  S.  4  provided  that  whereas  divors  of  the  lords  and  captains  of  Ulster, 
as  the  septs  of  the  O'Neills  of  Clandeboy,  etc.,  the  0'Hanlon3,MacMahon3,MaoGuin- 
nesses,  etc.,  had  been  at  the  commandment  of  Shane  O'Neill  in  his  traitorous  war, 
it  was  enacted  that  her  Majesty  should  hold  and  possess,  in  the  right  of  the  Crown, 
the  County  of  Tyrone,  of  Clandeboy,  etc.,  and  all  the  lands  and  tenements  belong- 
ing or  appertaining  to  any  of  the  persons  aforesaid,  or  to  their  kinsmen  or  adherents, 
in  any  of  the  countries,  or  territoi'ies,  before  specified.  It  is  reasonably  plain  here 
that  the  only  persons  whose  lands  were  escheated  were  Shane  O'Neill's  and  the  other 
persons  named  and  their  kinsmen  and  adherents,  whatever  construction  might  be  put 
upon  the  words  "  kinsmen  and  adherents."  Possibly  in  a  penal  statute  they  would 
be  held  void  for  uncertainty.  After  the  Pardon,  new  Letters  Patent  were  granted 
to  the  Lords  of  Countries,  and  Davis'  proposition  was  to  evict  the  under-tenants, 
and  vest  their  interest  as  freeholders  in  the  Crown,  and  then  transfer  these  free- 
holds to  Scotch  and  English  planters,  until  which  transfer  the  Crown  would  be 
under-tenant  apparently  to  the  Lords  of  Countries.  Nowadays,  we  have  no  doubt 
the  pardon,  proclamation,  and  new  Letters  Patent  would  be  held  to  re-establish  all 
the  interests.  But  we  are  far  from  saying  that  Davis  did  not  take  a  sound  working 
view  of  the  question,  as  things  stood  in  his  time.  The  judges  were  then  "  remov- 
ables." And  Irish  judges  holding  office  during  the  King's  pleasure  would  be  alow 
to  incur  the  displeasure  of  the  King's  Attorney-General  for  Ireland. 

By  the  12th  Eliz.,  C.  IV.,  S.I.,  it  was  provided  that  upon  the  offer  of  any  "the 
pretended  lords,  gentlemen,  or  freeholders  of  the  Irishrie,  or  degenerated  men 
of  English  name  holding  their  lands  by  Irish  custom,  and  not  by  tenure,  according 
to  her  Majesty's  laws,"  the  Lord  Deputy  might  accept  a  surrender  of  their  lands, 
and  grant  their  lands  to  them  by  Letters  Patent  to  hold  of  the  Queen.  By 
the  '2nd  Sec. — The  rights  of  all  persons  in  the  surrendered  lands  are  saved  in  the 
fullest  and  most  explicit  manner. 


THE   TRIBAL  OCCUPIER   AND   SIR   JOHN   DAVIS.  241 

days  before  Christmas  he  went  to  Litford  to  prosecute  the  Earls 
and  their  adherents  on  charges  of  high  treason, 

"The  jury,"  he  wrote,  "were  twenty-three  gentlemen  of  the 
best  quality  and  distinction  in  the  county  (Donegal),  Sir 
Cahir  O'Dogherty,  who,  next  to  the  Earl  of  Tyrconnell,  has  the 
largest  territory  there,  being  foreman.  Of  the  twenty-three 
jurors,  thirteen  were  of  the  Irish  nation  and  only  ten  English, 
in  order  that  there  might  be  no  exception  of  partiality  in  com- 
pounding the  jury.  The  Bills  were  read  publicly  in  English 
and  Irish,  though  that  were  needless  and  not  usual  in  taking 
of  indictments.  It  was  explained  that  an  indictment  was  an 
accusation  and  not  a  conviction."  ^ 

The  flight  of  the  Earls,  if  not  explained,  was  persuasive 
"prima  facie  evidence,  and  was,  no  doubt,  pressed  home  forcibly 
by  Davis.  The  King's  Proclamation  (November  15th,  1607) 
states :  "  We  do  profess  that  the  only  ground  and  motive  of  their 
high  contempt  in  these  men's  departure  hath  been  the  private 
knowledge  and  terror  of  their  own  guiltiness  "  (p.  GS).  There 
were,  however,  other  reasons  for  the  flight.  The  earls  fled,  not 
because  they  meditated  rebellion,  which,  under  the  circum- 
stances, would  have  been  sheer  madness,  but  because  neither 

'  A  copy  of  the  indictment  subscribed  "  a  true  bill,"  with  the  namea  of  the 
grand  jurors  attached,  was  sent  by  Davis  to  Salisbury  (/n  Cal.  II.,  556).  Amongst 
the  thirteen  Irish  we  find,  besides  Sir  Cahir  O'Doherty,  the  names  of  Donal 
M'Sweeny,  of  Fauad,  and  Donough  M'Sweeny,  of  Ba'iagh  ;  John  ua  Clerigh  (Kil- 
barron  Castle),  and  Lowry  (Luguid  ?)  ua  Clerigh,  (of  Bailj'clerigh).  Of  the  two  latter, 
to  whose  kindred  the  writer  belongs,  we  are  in  a  position  to  say  that  they  were 
treated  as  mere  tenants-at-will,  squatters,  "  having  no  English  name  or  sui-name," 
and  expelled  from  Donegal. 

The  project  of  Plantation  of  the  six  counties  of  Ulster  provided  that  "  the 
swordsmen  were  to  be  transplanted  into  such  other  parts  of  the  kingdom  as  b^' 
means  of  the  waste  lands  therein  were  fittest  for  to  receive  them — namely,  into 
Connacht  and  some  parts  of  Munster,  where  they  are  to  be  dispersed  and  not 
planted  together  in  one  place  ;  and  such  swordsmen  as  have  not  followers  or  cattle 
of  their  own  to  bo  disposed  of  in  his  Majesty's  service." — G.  Hill,  Plant,  of  Ulster, 
96.  All  the  "  kindred' '  Clerigh  who  answered  the  description  of  swordsmen — we  give 
this  as  a  single  instance  to  illustrate  the  procedure — were  with  their  families 
evicted.  They  were  allowed  to  take  their  cattle  with  them  and  M'ent,  driving 
them  before  them,  to  the  borders  of  Limerick.  There  is,  at  the  present  day,  in  the 
barony  of  Kilnamanagh,  a  district  called  Foily  Cleary  (Cilery's  Eock),  and  we  havo 
no  doubt  they  were  transplanted  into  this  district,  which  was  then  a  mountainous 
waste.  The  "  scholars  "  remained  behind  in  their  beloved  Donegal,  and  took  refuge 
in  the  mountains.  The  Chief  of  the  Four  Masters  was  known  before  joining  one 
or  both  the  Orders  (first  and  third)  of  St.  Francis  (without,  however,  taking  Orders) 
as  Tadg  an  t-Sleibe  (Tadg  of  the  Mountains). 

The  author  cannot  speak  here  from  immediate  family  traditions,  as  his  father 
died  when  he  was  an  infant.  But  when  he  was  a  boy,  nearly  fifty  years  ago,  he 
heard  these  particulars  from  a  wortb.y  priest  of  his  name  and  kindred,  who  said  he 
had  them  from  his  grandfather.  The  final  "  g  "  of  Clerig  is  aspirated,  as  in 
the  Nonb.    In  Munster  the  final  "  g  "  is  not  aspirated,  but  oronouncod  hard. 

R 


242  EARLY  IRISH  HISTORY. 

their  liberty  nor  their  lives  were  safe  in  Ireland.  Even  after 
their  flight  they  were  not  safe  from  the  poison  or  the  dagger 
of  the  hired  assassin.  The  evidence  of  this  has  recently  come 
to  light  from  the  archives  of  Venice,  and  is  to  be  found  in  the 
Calender  of  State  Papers. 

On  May  the  25th,  Sir  Henry  Wotton,  the  English  Ambassa- 
dor in  Venice,  wrote  to  the  Cabinet.  After  referring  to  the 
assassination  of  Henry  IV.  (May  14th,  1610),  he  observed  : — 

I  recollect  that  among  the  other  officers  whom  her  majesty  sent  to 
Ireland  was  Colonel  N  orris,  a  very  brave  gentleman.  He  desired  to 
end  the  business  as  soon  as  possible,  and,  as  it  was  impossible  to  come 
to  a  pitched  battle  with  the  Irish,  whose  habit  is  to  strike  and  then  fly 
into  the  dense  forests,  where  they  are  safe,  he  thought  the  only  way  to 
finish  up  the  matter  quickly  was  to  find  some  Irish  and  to  offer  them  a 
reward  if  they  would  kill  Tyrone,  and  so  end  the  business.  This  was 
a  good,  just  and  laudable  plan  to  secure  the  slaying  of  so  great  a  rebel. 
But  it  was  a  notable  fact  that  for  all  that  he  offered  the  greatest 
rewards  he  never  could  find  a  man  who  would  slay  the  Earl. 
There  is  not  the  smallest  doubt  that  if  the  Colonel  who  promised  ten 
thousand  pounds  sterling,  and  even  more,  to  the  man  who  should  kill 
the  Earl  and  escape  had  had  authority  to  promise  paradise  on  death 
the  Earl  would  most  assuredly  not  escape.^ 

It  would  be  difficult,  if  not  impossible,  for  the  assassin  to 
escape  unless  he  used  poison. 

At  the  time  of  the  flight  of  the  Earls  Sir  Henry  Totton 
was  the  English  ambassador  at  Venice.  The  fugitives  pro- 
ceeded  through  Flanders,  Lorraine  and  Switzerland,  by  the  St. 
Gothard  pass  to  Milan.  Wotton  promptly  conveyed  the 
intelligence  to  King  James,  and  soon  after,  under  the  signature 
Ottamo  Baldi,  wrote  the  letter  of  the  24th  April,  1608^'^.  In 
this  he  informs  the  King  that  an  Italian,  a  Lombard,  of  middle 
age,  well  clothed  and  well  fashioned,  came  to  him  four  days 
previously  and  delivered  to  him  a  credential  ticket  which  he 
encloses,  and  proposed  on  behalf  of  an  unnamed  person  of 
spirit  and  understanding  for  such  a  business,  to  assassinate 
O'Neill.  No  names  were  to  be  asked  until  the  proposal  was 
accepted,  which  made  Wotton  "troubled  and  cautious." 
However  he  writes  : — 

Next  I  told  him  that  though  the  thing  he  proposed  might,  no  doubt, 
be  done  very  justly  (jthe  parties  standing  in  actual  proclaimed  rebellion), 
yet  it  was  somewhat  questionable  whether  it  might  be  done  honourablj, 

9  Calendar  of  Slate  Papers  from  Archives  of  Venice.     Vol.  XI,— i93,  68  (1904). 
w  Irish  Calendar.    Vol.  II.— 657  (1608-1610),  (1904). 


THB  TRIBAL   OCCUPIER  AND  SIR  JOHN  DAVIS.  2'13 

your  majesty  having  not  hitherto  (for  aught  come  to  knowledge,) 
proceeded  to  the  open  proscription  of  them  to  destruction  abroad, 
neither  was  it  a  course  so  familiar  and  frequent  Avith  us  as  in  other 
states.  I  was  ready  to  spoak  forward  when  he  interrupted  me, 
methought  somewhat  eagerly,  saying  that  the  gentleman  who  had  sent 
him  knew  not  taute  distiniioni.  The  sum  and  substance  was  this  that 
if  he  might  but  be  assured  it  would  be  well  taken  by  your  Majesty  the* 
thing  should  be  done.  And  then  for  his  conscience  that  would  do  it 
let  his  Majesty  leave  it  to  him  {Sua  Maj.  lasci  far  a  lui),  just  in  the 
style,  as  I  must  confess,  of  a  fellow  that  were  fit  for  the  purpose.  I 
replied  that  since  the  point  which  he  only  or  most  required  to  know 
was  how  acceptable  it  would  be,  I  would  take  the  liberty  to  tell  him 
mine  own  conceit  that  services  of  this  kind  unto  princes  were  commonly 
most  obligatory  {i.e.  obliging),  when  done  without  their  knowledge,  I 
understand  you  [Intendo  vos,  signoria)  said  he  smilingly.  I  answered 
that  he  might  peradventure  understand  me  so  (too  1)  far,  and  therefore 
with  his  leave  I  would  explain  that  what  I  had  said  I  meant  not 
directly  of  your  Majesty  but  of  the  general  rules  and  affection  of  other 
princes  in  like  cases. 

The  stranger  refused  to  give  his  name,  but  left  a  note  which 
Wotton  received.     It  indicated  : — 

How  he  might  hear  from  me  addressing  my  letters  to  one  in  Mantua, 
his  friend,  without  any  superscription.  As  for  my  part,  1  have  left 
him  to  the  motions  of  his  own  will,  and  as  your  Majesty  shall  be 
further  pleased  to  command  me  I  will  proceed  in  it, 

Venice,  24th  of  April,  1608. 

Nothing  further  is  known  at  present  about  this  nefarious 
business.  No  person  was  ever  brought  to  trial  for  the  alleged  high 
treason.  The  whole  proceeding  was,  in  fact,  a  lever  de  rideau  for 
the  confiscation  of  the  estates  of  the  inhabitants  in  the  various 
countries  of  the  six  counties,^^  and  elsewhere,  and  for  the  pretence 
that  the  inferior  tenants  had  no  estate  at  all  in  their  holdings, 
but  were  mere  tenants-at-will  or  squatters.  If  they  were  free- 
holders their  freeholds  would  not  be  destroyed  by  the  treason 
of  the  lords  of  the  countries.  After  the  findinor  of  the  Bill  the 
plan  of  confiscation,  eviction,  and  plantation  was  considered 
and  settled  in  all  its  parts,  the  king  himself  giving  his  gracious 
attention  to  the  distribution  of  the  plunder  in  equitable  pro- 
portions between  his  Scotch  and  English  subjects.  The  Deputy 
and  the  Attorney-General  were  to  receive  large  grants  as  a 
matter  of  course.  Davis  got  5,500  acres,  and  Chichester  the 
whole  barony  of  Inishowen,  the  town  of  Dungannon,  and  a 

**  The  Six  Counties  were  Armagh,  Tyrone,  Derry,  Donegal,  Fermanagh  and 
Cavan. 


244  EARLY   IRISH   HISTORY. 

vast  tract  of  laud  near  Belfast,  the  last-mentioned,  tliouo'li  not 
within  the  six  counties,  being,  no  doubt,  confiscated  land 
They  were  duly  appointed,  with  others,  Commissioners  of  Plan- 
tation for  Ulster.  Davis  gives  an  account  of  their  proceedings 
in  a  letter  dated  Sept.  24th,  1610,  which  should  be  read  in 
conjunction  with  his  letter  printed  above  in  italics  to  under- 
stand rightly  the  iniquity  of  his  proceedings  : — 

We  began  at  Cavan,  where  (as  it  f alleth  out  on  all  matters  of  import- 
ance) we  found  the  first  access  and  entry  into  the  business  the  most 
difficult,  for  the  inhabitants  of  this  county  bordering  upon  Meath,  and 
having  many  acquaintances  and  alliances  with  the  gentlemen  of  the 
English  Pale,  called  theynselves  freeholders  and  pretended  that  they   had 
estates  of  inheritance  in  their  lands,  which   their  chief  lords  could  not 
forfeit  by  their  attainder,  whereas,  in  truth,  they  ne^'er  had   any  estates 
according   to  the   rules  of  the  common  law,   hut  only  a  so-ambling  and 
transitory  possession,  as  all  other  Irish  natives  within   the  kingdom. 
When  the  proclamation  was  published  touching   their  removal  (which 
was  done  in  the  Public  Session  House,  the  Lord  Deputy  and  the  Com- 
missioners   being   present),    a   lawyer    of    the  Pale,   retained  by  the 
inhabitants,  endeavoured  to  maintain  that  they  had  estates  of  inherit- 
tance,  and  in  their  name  desired  two  things — first,  that  they  might  be 
admitted  to  traverse  the  offices  that  had  been  found  of  those  lords ; 
secondly,  that  they  might  have  the  benefit  of  a  proclamation  made 
about  five  years  since  whereby  their  persons,  lands,  and  goods  were 
received  into  his  Majesty's  protection.      To  this,  by  my  Lord  Deputy's 
commandment,  I  made  answer  that  it  was  manifest  that  they  had  no 
estate  of  inheritance,  either  in  their  chiefries  or  in  their  tenancies,  for 
the  chiefry  never  descended  to  the  eldest  son  of  the  chieftain,  but  the 
strongest  of  the  sept  ever  entered  into  it ;  neither  had  they  any  certain 
estates  in  their  tenancies,   though  they  seemed  to  run  in  a  course  of 
gavelkind,  for  the  chief  of  the  sept,  once  in  two  or  three  years,  shuffle  d 
and  changed  their  possessions  by  making  a  new  partition  amongst  them, 
wherein  the  bastards  had  always  their  portions  as  well  as  the  legitimate, 
and  therefore  the  custom  hath  been  adjudged  void  inlaw  by  the  opinion 
of  all  the  judges  in  the  kingdom.     Hereunto  two  other  arguments  were 
added  to  prove  that  they  had  no  estates  of  inheritance.     One,  that  they 
never  esteemed  lawful  matrimony  to  the  end   that  they  might  have 
lawful  heirs ;  the  other,  that  they  never  built  any  houses  or  planted 
any  orchards  or  gardens  or  took  any  care  of  their  posterities,  as  they 
would  have  done  if  they  had  had  estates  descendible  to  lawful  heirs. 
These  reasons  answered  both  their  petitions,  for  if  they  had  no  estate 
inlaw  they  could  show  no  title,  and  without  showing  a  title  no  man 
may  be  admitted  to  traverse  an  office  ;  and,  again,  if  they  had  no  estate 
in  the  land  which   they   possessed,   the  proclamation  which  received 
their  lands  into  his  Majesty's  protection  does  not  give  them  any  better 
estate  than  they  had  before.     Other  arguments  were  used  to  show  that 
his  Majesty  might  justly  dispose  of  those  lands,  as  he  has  now  done,  in 
laio,  in  conscience,  and  in  honour,  wherewith  the)'  seemed  not  unsatisfied 
in  reason  though  in  passion  they  remained  ill-contented,  being  grieved 


THE  TRIBAL  OCCUPIER   AND  SIR  JOHN  DAVIS.  245 

to  leave  their  possessions  to  strangers  which  their  septs  had  so  long 
after  the  Irish  manner  enjoyed.  Howbeit,  the  Lord  Deputy  mixed 
threats  with  entreaty,  precibusque  minas  regalUer  addit,  and  they 
promised  to  give  way  to  the  undertakers. 

Untruths,  it  is  said,  are  serviceable  and  highly  prized — 
dans  la  hawte  politique}'^  On  a  lower  plane,  within  the  sphere 
of  domestic  politics,  we  disbelieve  utterly  in  the  utility  of  the 
mensonge  utile.  Official  lying  is  at  all  times  detestable,  and 
is  at  best  but  a  sorry  substitute  for  intelligent  and  capable 
statesmanship.  A  day  of  reckoning  comes  sooner  or  later, 
followed  in  inexorable  sequence  by  stern  retribution.  And 
surely  fraud  never  comes  in  a  more  maddening  guise  than 
when  the  forms  of  justice  are  prostituted  by  its  ministers  to 
further  unworthy  policy  and  secure  for  themselves  dishonour, 
able  gains.  The  delirium  and  deplorable  massacre  of  1641  was 
the  outcome  of  this  deplorable  chicanery.^^ 

^*  "  If  honesty  will  do,  let  us  be  honest;  if  duplicity  is  necessary,  let  us  be 
rogues." — Frederick  the  Great. 

^^  It  would  be  a  safe  conjecture  that  the  number  of  those  slain  in  cold  blood  at 
the  beginning  of  the  rebellion  could  hardly  have  much  exceeded  four  or  five 
thousand,  while  about  twice  that  number  may  have  perished  from  ill-treatment. 
Gairdner,  Vol.  X,  '69.     Lecky,  Vol.  II,  153. 


[    246     3 


CHAPTER  XVI. 

THE  LIA   FAIL— THE  STONE   OF   DESTINY. 

AT  the  reception  of  the  Faith  the  social  organisation  of  Erin 
was,  as  we  have  seen,  in  the  tribal  stage  of  evolution.  The 
line  of  Eremon  had  emerged  from  being  primus  inter  pares, 
and  was  then  predominant.  It  held  Tara  and  Ailech,  ruled  in 
Connacht  and  in  Leinster,  and  made  alliance  by  marriage  with 
Munster  and  Little  Ulster.  Everything  seemed  to  point  to  the 
speedy  fusion  of  the  clans  into  a  nation  and  the  rise  of  a  monarch 
or  an  imperator.  A  statesman  like  Louis  XL,  or  Bismarck, 
would,  undoubtedly,  have  effected  the  transformation.  The 
physical  conditions  were  eminently  favourable  for  the  establish- 
ment of  a  strong  central  government.  The  country  was  not 
divided  by  mountain  ranges  or  other  natural  barriers  intc 
cantons,  like  Greece  or  Switzerland.  Rivers,  flowing  south, 
north,  east,  and  west,  diverged,  as  it  were,  from  a  central 
point,  and,  unlike  rivers,  such  as  the  Loire  and  the  Rhone, 
flowed  with  an  easy  current,  in  a  full  channel.  This  was  the 
result  partly  of  the  moderate  elevation  of  the  central  plain  (the 
area  between  Dublin  and  Galway  not  exceeding  a  height  of  250 
feet  above  the  level  of  the  sea),  and  partly  of  the  existence  of 
large  areas  of  peat  bogs  and  forests.  These  bogs  acted  as  sponges, 
retaining  the  rainfall  and  distributing  it  gradually  into  the 
river  beds,  and  prevented  the  excessive  and  disastrous  floodings 
to  which  other  river  basins,  such  as  that  of  the  Loire,  were 
subject.  Nature  had  thus  prepared  safe  and  commodious  high- 
ways for  internal  communication.  The  coast  was  provided 
with  excellent  harbours  and  landing  places,  which  were,  as  we 
have  seen,  frequented  by  traders  and  dealers  from  foreign 
parts.  During  the  first  millennium  of  our  era,  according  to 
the  best  guess  we  can  make,  the  population  never  exceeded 
850,000,  which  we  would  distribute  roughly,  thus— 200,000  to 
Munster,  i.e.,  the  two  Munsters,  200,000  to  Ulster,  i.e.,  the  two 
Ulsters,  and  150,000  each  to  Leinster,  Meath,  and  Connacht.^ 

*  The  peat  bogs  occupy  1,772,450  acres,  nearly  one-ninth  of  the  entire  area  of 
the  country.  They  are  antiseptic,  and,  unlike  the  feus  and  morasses  in  other 
lands,  are  not  injurioua  to  health,  but  rather  the  reverse.    No  malaria  is  found  in 


THE  LIA  FAIL— THE  STONE  OF  DESTINY.  247 

Within  this  central  plain  stood  two  famous  hills — Uisneach 
and  Tara.  Uisneach  was  near  the  true  centre  of  Erin,  about 
nine  miles  west  of  Mullingar.  It  was,  according  to  the  legends, 
the  oldest  capital,  if  we  may  so  call  it.  Afterwards  Tara  was 
preferred,  and  was  selected  by  the  Gael  for  the  residence  of 
the  Ard-Bigh. 

Tara  stood  on  the  summit  of  a  grassy  slope,  500  feet  over 
the  sea  level,  200  above  the  surrounding  plain,  2G  miles  N.W. 
of  Dublin,  and  5  J-  miles  S.E.  of  Navan,  which  is  situated  at  the 
confluence  of  the  Blackwater  and  the  Boyne.  It  was  on  this 
hill  that  the  high  kings  were  inaugurated.  In  all  the  tribal 
P  elections  of  importance  in  Erin  an  inauguration  stone  was  in 
common  use.  In  other  respects  the  ceremony  varied  in 
details.'^  This  custom  prevailed  commonly  among  the  Nordic 
nations.  The  kings  of  Sweden  were  inaugurated  on  the 
"great  stone,"  still  seen  on  the  grave  of  Odin,  near  Upsala. 
"  Seven  stone  seats  for  the  emperor  and  his  electors  mark  the 
spot  where  the  Lahn  joins  the  Rhine  at  Lahnstein."  The 
Anglo-Saxon  kings  were  crowned  on  the  "  King's  Stone,"  near 
the  Thames.  The  Lord  of  the  Isles  was  inaugarated  on  such 
astono.     In  Spenser's  View  of  Ireland  we  find  (p.  11) — 

Eudox — Do  they  not  use  any  ceremony  at  the  election  1 

Iren — They  used  to  place  him  that  shall  be  their  captaiae  upon  a 

atone  always  reserved  for  that  purpose,  and  placed  commonly  upon  a  hill, 

on  some  of  which  I  have  seen  formed  and  engraven  a  foot,  which  they  say 

was  the  measure  of  their  first  captaine's  foot,  whereon  he,  standing, 

connection  with  them.  As  fuel  they  may  become  at  some  future  time  a  valuable 
national  asset.  Reckoning  them,  however,  for  the  present  as  waste  lands,  the 
total  of  such  in  Ireland  is  less  in  proportion  than  the  waste  lands  of  Great  Britain. 
There  is  no  reason  to  believe  that  at  the  time  we  speak  of  the  forests  prevented 
intercommunication.  Large  clearances  are  described  in  our  texts  from  the  remotest 
period.  Fynes  Moryson,  who  was  Secretary  to  the  Lord  Deputy  Mountjoy 
(1599-1603)  says  in  his  description  of  Ireland : — "  In  time  of  peace  the  Irish 
transport  (export)  good  quantity  of  corn  ;  yet  they  may  not  transport  it  without 
license  lest  upon  any  sudden  rebellion  the  King's  forces  and  his  good  subjects 
should  want  corn.  Ulster  and  the  westerr^  parts  of  Munster  yield  vast  woods. 
But  I  confess  myself  to  have  been  deceived  in  the  common  fame  that  all  Ireland  is 
woody,  having  found  in  my  long  journey  from  Armagh  to  Kinsale  few  or  no  woods 
by  the  way,  excepting  the  great  woods  of  Offaly,  and  some  low,  shrubby  places 
which  they  call  glens. — History  II.,  370. 

"^  At  the  inauguration  of  the  O'Dowda. — The  privilege  of  first  drinking  at  the 
banquet  was  given  by  O'Dowda  to  O'Caemhain,  and  he  was  not  to  drink  until  he 
first  presented  it  to  the  file,  i.e  ,  MacFirbis.  The  weapons,  battle  dress,  and  steed 
of  O'Dowda  after  his  nomination  were  given  to  O'Caemhain,  and  the  weapons  and 
battle  dress  of  O'Caemhain  to  Mac  Firbis.  It  was  not  lawful  ever  to  nominate — ■ 
that  is,  proclaim — O'Dowda  until  O'Caemhain  and  Mac  Firbis  pronounced  the 
name  and  until  Mac  Firbis  held  the  wand  over  the  head  of  O'Dowda.  After 
O'Caemhain  and  Mac  Firbis  every  cleric  and  coarb  and  every  chief  of  a  district 
pronounced  the  name — O'Dowda.     Hy  Fiachra,  440. 


24-8  EARLY   IRISH   HISTORY. 

takes  an  oath  to  preserve  all  the  ancint  former  customs  of  the  country 
inviolable  and  to  deliver  up  the  possession  peaceably  to  his  Tanist, 
and  then  hath  a  wand  delivered  to  him  by  some  whose  proper  office 
that  is ;  after  which,  descending  from  the  stone,  he  turneth  himself 
round  thrice  forward  and  thrice  backward.^ 

The  legendary  foundation  of  the  High  Kingship  is  traced 
back  to  the  Firvolce.  Slainge,  the  eldest  brother,  who  took 
possession  of  the  country  from  the  Boyne  to  the  meeting  of  the 
three  rivers  near  Waterford,  "  was  elected  king  over  them  by  his 
four  brothers  and  the  Firvolce  in  general."  *  It  was  this  entry, 
probably,  that  led  Thierry  to  state  that  "there  was  in  Erin  a  king 
superior  to  all  the  rest,  who  was  called  the  great  king,  or  the 
king  of  the  country,  and  who  was  chosen  by  a  general  assembly 
of  the  chiefs  of  the  different  provinces,  but  thiselectivepresident 
of  the  national  confederation  swore  to  the  whole  nation  the 
same  oath  which  the  chiefs  of  the  tribes  swore  to  their  respec- 
tive tribes,  that  of  inviolably  observing  the  ancient  laws  and 
hereditary  customs."  ^ 

The  statement  that  the  Ard  Righ  was  chosen  by  popular 
election  of  some  sort  by  the  provincial  kings  and  under-kings 
and  by  the  "  estates  of  the  realm "  is  found  also  in  other 
writers.  Within  the  historic  period,  unfortunately,  no  such 
mode  of  election  is  recorded  in  our  texts. 

From  Laeghaire  to  Maelseachlann  (429-1022)  there  were 
thirty-nine  high  kings,  all  of  whom,  except  Brian  Boru,  were 
of  the  line  of  Eremon,  and  all,  except  Olioll  Moll  (a  nephew) 
were  descendants  of  Niall  of  the  Nine  Hostages.  NialPs  son, 
Crimthan,  and  his  descendants  number  16,  Eogan  and  his 
descendants  13,  Conal  and  his  descendants  7,  Laeghaire  1,  and 
Cairbre  1  ^ — total  38.     How  were  these  High  Kings  chosen  ? 

The  succession  to  the  High  Kingship  in  Erin  was  not 
hereditary,  but  selective.  The  Ard  Righ  was  chosen  from  the 
royal  stock,  and  the  eligible  candidates  were  styled  rig-domna, 
i.e.,  royal  material.  A  successor  was  sometimes  chosen  in  the  life- 
time of  the  reigning  monarch.  He  was  styled  a  Tanist  (U^tMif  ce) 
=  second,  i.e.,  next  to  succeed.  The  following  genealogical 
table,  which  we  have  compiled  partly  from  one  carefully  pre- 
pared  with  dates  by  M.   D'Arbois,  and  partly   from  Reeves' 

*  And  Bee  O'Donovan's  Hy  Fiachra,  458,  for  interesting  details,  and  Reeves 
Adamnan,  198. 

*  F.  M.,  3266  A.M. 

^  Norman  Conquest,  II.,  123. 

®  A  list  of  the  High  Kings,  with  dates,  will  be  found  in  the  Appendix. 


THE   LIA   FAIL — THE   STONE   OF   DESTINY. 


249 


Adamnan,  will  be  found  useful  in  examining  the  course  of 
selective  succession  of  the  kings  for  two  centuries,  and  also  for 
the  pedigree  and  relationships  of  Saint  ColumbaJ 


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An  examination  of  this  table   of  High  Kings  proves  that 
the  succession  was  not  hereditary,  but  selective  from  the  royal 
stock,  and   establishes,    in   our    judgment,   that   where    the 
'  Sev.  Celt.  XXII.,  p.  364,  and  Reeves'  Adaimian,  251. 


250  EARLY  IRISH  HISTORY. 

succession  was  peaceable,  after  the  time  of  Niall  of  the  Nine 
Hostages,  the  selection  was  made  by  the  tribesmen,  who  are 
commonly  referred  to  as  the  Ui  Neill.  There  is  no  trace  of 
federal  election.  The  man  who  became  chieftain  of  the 
Ui  Neill  took  possession  of  Tara  and  the  hostages,  and  the 
provincial  kings  had  to  submit  to  his  authority.  This  was 
when  the  succession  was  peaceable.  When  there  were  rival 
candidates  in  the  field  the  provincial  kings  had  a  very  effective 
voice  in  the  selection  by  joining  forces  with  one  or  other  of  the 
rivals.  But,  as  we  have  seen,  up  till  the  time  of  Brian  Boru, 
no  man  outside  the  royal  stock  of  the  Ui  Neill  succeeded 
in  reaching  the  High  Kingship.  "  Maelseachlan  (  + 1022)  was  the 
last  King  of  Ireland  of  Irish  blood  that  had  a  crown;  yet  there 
were  seven  kings  after  without  crown  before  the  coming  in  of 
the  English."  These  were  Righ-go-fresabhraidh,  i.e.,  kings  with 
opposition,  or,  rather,  under  protest.  "  They  were  reputed  to  be 
absolute  monarchies  in  this  manner  :  If  he  were  of  Leah  Cuin, 
or  Con's  halfe  in  Deale  {i.e.,  in  quantity,  or  extent),  and  had  one 
province  of  Leahmoye,  or  Moah's  halfe  in  Deale  at  his  com- 
mand,  he  was  counted  to  be  of  sufficient  power  to  be  King  of 
Taragh,  or  Ireland  ;  but  if  the  party  were  of  Leahmoye,  if  he 
could  not  command  all  Leahmoye  and  Taragh  with  the  loppe 
(i.e.,  the  belt  of  country)  hereunto  belonging,  and  the  province 
of  Ulster  or  Connaught  (if  not  both)  he  would  not  be  sufficient 
to  be  king  of  all.  Dermot  McMoylenemoe  could  command, 
Leahmoye,  Meath,  and  Connaught  and  Ulster,  therefore  by  the 
judgment  of  all  he  was  reputed  sufficient  monarch  of  the 
whole."  ^  These  are  the  observations,  in  all  probability,  of 
MacGeoghan  himself,  and  not  of  the  annalist,  and  must 
be  understood  to  apply  only  to  the  period  of  the  High  Kings 
"  with  opposition,"  out  of  which,  under  favourable  circum- 
stances, a  central  hereditary  monarchy  would,  probably,  have 
finally  emerged. 

We  shall  now  examine  the  table  of  kings  in  some 
detail.  Eocaid  Muighmedoin  left  eight  sons,  who  had  issue, 
who  became  divided  into  the  Northern  Ui  Neill  (Eogan,  Conall 
Cairbre,  and  Enda  Find) ;  and  the  Southern  Ui  Neill  (Laeghaire, 
Crimthann,  Fiachra,  and  Maine).^    On  the  death  of  Crimthann, 

*  Murphy,  S.  J.,  AnnaU  of  Clonmacnoise,  176  and  171. 

*  Eocaid  was,  as  already  stated,  succeeded  by  hia  brother-in-law,  Crimthann, 
8oa  of  Fidach,  of  the  royal  family  of  Munster. 

\ 


THE   LIA   FAIL— THE   STONE   OF   DESTINY.  251 

Niall,  though  the  youngest  son  of  Eocaid,  and  not  born  of  the 
"  one  wife,"  but  of  a  Saxon  woman,  succeeded  peaceably. 
There  is  no  mention  of  a  feis  or  convention  of  provincial  kings 
at  the  time,  and  it  may,  we  think,  be  assumed  that  the  election 
was  by  the  Clanna  Neill  alone.  He  was  succeeded  peaceably 
by  Dathi,  son  of  his  uncle,  Fiachra.  Again,  there  is  no  mention 
of  any  feis  or  convention.  He  was  succeeded  peaceably  by 
Laeghaire.  There  was  no  feis  or  convention  then,  but  in  the  26th 
year  of  his  reign  Laeghaire  celebrated  the  feis  at  Tara.  He 
was  succeeded  peaceably  by  Olioll  Moll,  a  son  of  Dathi.  There 
was  no  feis  or  convention  then,  but  Olioll  held  afterwards  one, 
or,  some  say  two,  celebrations  of  the  feis  at  Tara.  After  he 
had  reigned  twenty  years  Lugaid,  the  son  of  Laeghaire,  claimed 
the  throne,  and  formed  a  league  with  Fergus  Cearbheal,  son  of 
Conal  Crimthann,  of  the  Northern  Ui  Neill,  Muirchertach  Mor 
Mac  Erca,  son  of  Muiredach,  son  of  Eogan,  of  the  Northern 
Ui  Neill,  and  with  Fiachra.  son  of  the  king  of  Dal-Aradia.^*' 

A  fierce  battle  was  fought  (478  A.D.)  at  Ocha,  in  Meath. 
Olioll  was  defeated  and  slain,  and  the  supremacy  of  the  Ui 
Neill  was  firmly  established.^^  The  King  of  Dal-Aradia  was 
rewarded  with  territories  on  the  east  and  the  west  of  the  River 
Bann.  Lugaid  then  mounted  the  throne,  and,  after  a  reign  of 
twenty-five  years,  was  killed  by  lightning.  He  was  succeeded 
peaceably  by  Muirchertach  Mor  Mac  Erca,  the  grandson  of 
Eogan.  After  a  reign  of  twenty-four  years  Muirchertach  was 
assassinated  by  Sen,  daughter  of  Sighe,  in  revenge  for  her 
father,  whom  he  had  slain. 

He  was  succeeded  peaceably  by  Tuathal  Maelgarbh,  grandson 
of  Cairbre,  son  of  Niall.  In  his  reign  was  fought  the  battle  of 
Sligo  (537)  by  Fergus  and  Domhnall,  the  sons  of  Muirchertach, 
and  by  Ainmire,  the  son  of  Sedna,  and  Anmidh,  the  son  of 
Duach,  and  the  Northern  Ui  Neill,  against  the  Hy  Fiachrach, 
in  which  the  latter  were  routed,  and  Eogan  Bel,  who  had  been 


^'^  A7m.  Ulst.,  F.M.,  A.D,  478,  who  add  that  Cinmthann,  King  of  Leinster, 
joined  the  League. 

1^  The  battle  of  Eiblin  gained  by  Muirchertach,  son  of  Ere,  the  battle  of 
Magh  Ailbe  (Kildare)  gained  over  Leinster,  and  the  battle  of  Aidne  over  Connact, 
and  the  battles  of  Almhain  and  Cenneach  over  Leinster,  and  the  plundering  of 
Clia  (Idrone  Carlow)  Tigernach. 

bo  befc  514LIA  Ua  neilL  l^.  jiaIIa  moije  tTluniAti  CeAnn  eActd'O. 

He  bore  away  the  hostages  of  the  Hy  Neill  and  the  hostages  of  the  Plains  of 
Munster. 


252  EARLY   IRISH   HISTORY. 

King  of  Comnact  for  thirty-five  years,  was  slain.^^  The  victors 
in  this  battle  were  the  warriors  whom  St.  Columba  is  said  by 
some,  erroneously,  as  we  hope  to  show,  to  have  incited  to  fight  the 
battle  of  Cul  Dreimhne,  a  few  miles  north  of  Sligo,  in  555. 
Fergus  and  Domhnall  succeeded  to  the  throne  in  558  A.D.  The 
battles  of  Ocha  and  Sligo  were  disastrous  events,  from  a 
political  point  of  view — victories  gained  by  the  Ui  Neill  over 
their  near  kinsmen  of  Connact,  cutting  off  vigorous  and 
spreading  branches  from  the  parent  stock,  dividing  the  race 
of  Eremon  into  hostile  camps  and  placing  grave  if  not  insur- 
mountable  difficulties  in  the  way  of  fusing  the  Gael  into  a 
nation. 

In  addition  to  the  tribal  vote  there  was,  in  Pagan  times,  an 
electoral  voice  of  decisive  weight  heard  at  the  inauguration  of 
the  new  king.  We  refer,  of  course,  to  the  famous  Lia  Fail  or 
Stone  of  Destiny. 

According  to  the  legend  the  Dedannans  brought  with  them  to 
Erin  the  sword  and  spear  of  Lug,  the  cauldron  of  the  Dagda, 
and — most  precious  of  all  the  treasures — the  Enchanted  Stone  of 
the  Sun,  the  Lia  Fail}^  Hence  the  island  was  in  after  times 
called  Innis  Fail.  The  stone  used  to  shout  under  the  Kin  or  of 
Erin,  saith  the  old  duan  quoted  by  Keating,  i.e.,  if  he  was  the 
rightful  king.  It  was  prophesied  that  the  Scots  should  hold 
sway  wherever  the  stone  should  be  found  : 

Ni  fallat  fa  turn,  Scoti  quocumque  locorum 
Invenient  lapidem  regaare  tenentur  ibidem. 

What  has  become  of  the  Stone  of  Dostinj^-  ?  One  tradition  is 
that  it  was  taken  to  Scotland,  that  the  Gaelic  King  there  might 
be  inaugurated  upon  it.  The  time  of  its  removal  cannot  be 
exactly  fixed.  It  was  certainly  after  the  death  of  Diarmaid 
mac  Cerbhael,  who  died  in  565  A.D.  The  view  in  the  Ogygia, 
(p.  45),  therefore  seems  plausible — that  it  was  sent  by  Aedh 
Finliath,  Ard-righ  (861  to  877),  to  his  father-in-law,  Kenneth 
mac  Alpin,  when  he  defeated  the  Picts,  A.D.  844.^*    He  was 

^'^  Tuathal  was  assassinated  (538)  and  peaceably  succeeded  by  Diarmaid,  son 
of  Cerrbeoil,  son  of  Crimthann,  son  of  Niall.  The  assassin,  Maelmor,  was  the  son 
of  the  mother  of  Diarmaid.  {Tigernach.) 

^^  Dolmens  III.,  1160 — "  There  can  be  no  doubt  Fal  was  a  sun-god." 

'^  Flann  of  the  monastery,  if  e  cec  1115  t^oj;Ab  11156  5coinT)e'T)e   J^Aetjetib. 

In  the  seventh  year  of  his  reign  Kenneth  is  said  in  the  Scottish  chronicle  to 
have  transferred  relics  of  St.  Columba  to  a  church  he  had  built  near  Scone.  This 
was  probably  the  final  carrying  out  of  the  arrangement  by  which  the  supremacy  of 
lona  was  transferred  in  Erin  to  Kells,  and  in  Scotland  to  Dunkeld. — Skene,  I..  310. 


THE   LIA   FAIL — THE   STONE   OF   DESTINY.  253 

the  King  of  the  Dal-riada  of  Alba,  and  after  his  victory  united 
the  territory  of  the  Picts  to  his  own,  and  marching  to  Scone, 
near  Perth,  was  inaugurated  there  as  the  King  "  who  possessed 
the  kingdom  of  Scone  o£  the  Gael.'' 

There  is  at  this  day  (O'Flaherty  writes)  in  the  royal  throne  at 
Westminster  a  stone  called  Jacob's  Stone.  On  this  the  kings  of  Ireland 
formerly  took  the  omens  of  their  investiture.  There  is  an  old  tradition 
that  it  was  called  "  fatal,"  because  the  princes  used  to  try  their  fate  on 
it.  If  it  would  make  a  noise  under  the  king  who  sat  on  it,  it  was  an 
infallible  sign  of  his  accession  ;  if  it  was  silent,  it  excluded  him  from  any 
hope.  Since  the  Incarnation  of  our  blessed  Lord  it  has  produced  no 
such  oracle ;  and  you  can  see  in  Eusebius'  Book  the  delusive  oracles  that 
were  silenced.  The  time  that  it  came  to  the  Scots  of  Britain  from  Erin 
cannot  be  ascertained ;  but  if  I  may  be  allowed  to  conjecture,  it  was  in 
the  time  of  Kenneth,  who  conquered  and  subjected  to  the  empire  of  the 
Scots  the  Pictish  nation,  and  deposited  that  stone  in  the  abbey  at  Scone, 
in  the  country  of  the  Picts,  when  he  transferred  his  palace,  and  it  vei'y 
probably  was  transmitted  by  Aed  Finliath,  the  son-in-law  of  Kenneth, 
who  was  afterwards  King  of  Ireland,  as  an  auspicious  omen.i^ 

There  is  no  reason  to  think  that  any  of  the  northern  Ui 
Neill  went  to  Tara  to  be  inaugurated  after  the  time  of  Diar- 
maid,  nor  is  there  any  evidence,  so  far  aa  we  are  aware,  that 
the  stone  was  ever  taken  to  Aileach  for  the  coronation,  and  it 
would,  we  think,  have  been  good  policy  on  the  part  of  the 
northern  branch  to  disfranchise  this  supposititious  elector 
altogether  by  sending  him  to  reside  permanently  at  Scone. 
Many,  however,  including  Petrie,  thought  that  the  Stone  of 
Destiny  remained  in  Ireland,  and  was  stiil  in  Tara  of  the  Kings. 
He  thought  the  pillar  stone  known  as  the  Bod  Ferguis  was 
the  Lia  Fail.  16 

He  relied  mainly  as  his  strongest  proof  on  a  poem  by  Kineth 
O'Hartigan,  985  A.D.,  who  says : — 

The  stone  on  which  are  my  two  heels 
From  it  is  called  Inis  Fail. 

It  was  at  the  side  of  the  Mound  of  the  Hostages  that  the  celebrated 


£3^ 


15  Ofjygia  (Hely),  67. 

^^  The  following  passage,  an  '■  inset "  is  found  in  the  Irish  Abridgment  of  the 
"  Expugaatio  Hiberaira,"  translated  from  a  fragment  of  a  fifteenth  century  vellura 
by  Whitley  Stokes.     Ewj.  Hist.  Rev.,  vol.  xx.,  par.  571. 

The  King  (H.II.),  left  Ireland  and  went  to  the  city  of  St.  David,  and  there 
happened  to  be  on  the  north  side  of  the  chui'ch  a  stone,  called  the  speaking  stone, 
like  unto  the  Lia  Fail  which  is  in  Tara,  10  feet  in  length,  7  in  breadth,  and  1  foot 
in  thickness.  A  dead  body  was  brought  to  the  stone  and  it  spoke  thereunder,  and 
then  it  clove  asunder,  and  that  cleft  is  to  be  seen  there  still.  Merlin  prophesied 
that  it  should  speak  under  him  who  should  be  king  of  Ireland.  The  king  went  to 
It,  but  it  did  not  speak  under  him,  and  he  was  displeased,  and  was  accusing 
Merlin. 


254  EARLY  IRISH  HISTORY. 

coronation  stone  called  the  Lia  Fail  was  located  at  the  time  of  the 
writers  already  referred  to,  and  it  remained  in  the  same  situation  till 
some  years  after  1798,  when  it  was  removed  to  its  present  position  in 
the  rath  called  Forradh  to  mark  the  grave  of  the  rebels  slain  at  Tara 
in  that  year.  The  Lia  Fail  is  spoken  of  not  only  by  those  authorities 
but  by  all  the  ancient  Irish  writers,  in  such  a  manner  as  to  leave  no 
doubt  that  it  remained  in  its  original  situation  at  the  time  that  they 
wrote. 

But  other  texts  which  are  decisive  the  other  way  have  since 
been  found,  e.g.,  "It  was  the  Tuatha  Di  Danan  brought  with 
them  the  great  pAl,  that  is  the  Stone  of  Knowledge  that  was 
(in  li4  ^TLi  t)A  P|\)  pf  1  CionpAig,  from  which  Magh  Fal  is,  {i.e., 
called)  on  Erin."     Booh  of  Leinster,  page  9,  col.  a,  line  13. 

And,  again,  in  the  "  Talk  with  the  Old  Men."  "  This,  then, 
and  the  \,\a  lpA\l  that  was  there  were  the  two  Wonders  of  Tara. 
And  Diarmait  Mac  Cerbheoil  asks  who  was  it  that  lifted  that 
flag,  or  carried  it  away  out  of  Erin  ? "  Answer,  "  It  was  a 
young  hero  of  great  spirit  who  ruled  over  " — What  followed  is, 
unfortunately,  wanting  in  all  the  MS.^'^ 

T.  O.  Russell  has  some  pertinent  and  very  judicious  remarks 
on  Petrie's  views  in  his  interesting  notice  of  Tara : — 

Another  strong  objection  against  the  pillar-stone  in  Tara  being  the 
Lia  Fail  is  its  shape.  The  real  Lia  Fail  was  intended  to  be  stood  upon 
by  the  chief  King  at  his  inauguration  ;  but  the  most  flat-footed  monarch 
that  ever  ruled  Ireland  would  have  considerable  difficulty  in  standing 
steadily  on  the  Coirthe  in  Tara,  even  if  it  were  prostrate,  for  it  is  round 
and  not  flat.  Judging  from  its  height  above  the  ground  it  cannot  be 
much  less  than  eight  feet  in  length.  Lia  is  always  applied  to  a  flag- 
stone, both  in  ancient  and  modern  Gaelic.  The  stone  under  the  coro- 
nation seat  at  Westminster  is  a  real  lia  or  flag-stone ;  the  stone  in  Tara 
is  a  Coirthe  or  pillar-stone.^^ 

The  Lia  Fail  enclosed  in  the  Coronation  Chair  at  West- 
minster is  of  an  oblong  form,  but  irregular,  measuring  twenty- 
six  inches  in  length,  six  three-quarter  inches  in  breadth,  and 
ten  and  a  half  inches  in  thickness.^^ 

The  ancient  distich  : 

Ni  fallat  fatum  Scoti  quoquncque  locorum 
Invenient  lapidem  regnare  tenentur  ibidem, 

is  said  to  have  been  cut  or  engraven  on  the  stone  by  command  of 
Kenneth    MacAlpin,  but   no    trace   of   an  inscription  can  be 

"  Irishe  Texte,  vol.  4,   p.  xiii.  and  p.  224  (Stokes'  Aoadamh  na  Senorach) 
Bilva  Oaedelica,  S.  H.  O'Qrady,  vol,  ii.,  p.  264. 
^^  Antiquitiea  of  Ireland. 
*'  We  take  these  particulars  from  Neale's  Westminster  Abbey,  p,  79. 


THE   LIA   FAIL — THE   STONE  OF   DESTINY.  255 

found.  If  the  verses  were  really  engraved  by  King  Kenneth's 
order,  it  is  most  likely  to  have  been  done  either  on  the  wooden 
chair,  wherein  he  originally  had  the  stone  enclosed  (but  not  any 
remains  of  which  are  known  to  be  preserved),  or,  as  is  more 
probable,  on  a  metal  plate  fastened  to  the  upper  surface  of  the 
stone  ;  in  which  there  is  a  rectangular  groove  or  indent,  mea- 
suring fourteen  inches  by  nine  inches,  and  from  one-eighth  to 
one-fourth  of  an  inch  in  depth,  as  if  purposely  cut  or  roughly 
chiselled  out  for  the  fixing  of  the  edge  of  such  plate,  either 
with  cement  or  melted  lead.  There  is  likewise  at  one  corner 
a  small  cross  +  slightly  cut.  It  has  at  each  end  a  circular  iron 
handle  aflSxed  to  the  stone  itself,  so  that  it  may  be  lifted  up. 

The  Coronation  Stone  was  examined  in  1865  by  Professor 
Ramsey,  Director  of  the  Geological  Survey  of  England,  and  a 
small  portion  of  it  chemically  tested  at  his  request.  His  report 
will  be  found  in  the  second  edition  (1868)  of  Stanley's  Memo- 
rials of  Westminster  Abbey,  p.  564.  The  effect  of  his  report, 
which  is  too  long  to  be  given  here,  is  that  it  came  from  some 
old  red  sandstone  formation,  such  as  is  to  be  found  at  Scone 
and  at  DunstafFnage,  "  but,"  he  adds,  "  as  there  are  plenty  of 
red  sand  stones  in  Ireland  (from  which  it  is  said  to  have  been 
brought),  it  may  be  possible  to  prove  precisely  its  origin,"  We 
think  the  fact  of  the  local  stone  being  old  red  stone  is  against 
the  claim  of  Scone  and  DunstafFnage.  The  maxim  "  ignotum 
pro  mirifico,"  applies  to  stone  as  well  as  to  other  things. 

A  prophetic  sandstone  setting  up  to  be  able  to  discriminate 
between  a  true  and  a  false  king  would  have  no  honour  in  a 
country  of  such  stones.  The  local  stone  at  Tara  is  limestone, 
and  an  enchanted  stone,  coming  from  a  far-awr^y  land,  as  the 
tradition  ran,  was  bound  to  be  something  quite  different. 

Red  sandstone  is  found  in  many  regions ;  it  is  plentiful  in 
the  north  of  Spain,  for  instance,  and  if  the  Lia  Fail  had 
acquired  a  reputation  there  before  the  sons  of  the  Soldior 
Golam  left  for  Erin,  they  most  likely  carried  it  with  them.^<* 

^°  Robertson,  J.,  wrote  a  letter  to  Dean  Stanley  on  the  subject  of  the  Corona- 
tion Stone,  which  is  printed  in  the  second  edition  of  his  Memorials,  p.  557.  Th» 
Dean  refers  to  it  as  an  "  additional  proof  of  the  extraordinary  fulness  and 
accuracy  with  which  he  met  every  question  relating  to  Scottish  history."  Robertson 
points  out,  as  against  the  view  that  the  Lia  Fail  was  brought  to  Alba  by  Fergus 
Mac  Ere  about  500  A.D.,  (1)  that  in  the  account  of  the  inauguration  of  his  successor 
Aidan  (A.D.  574)  the  stone  does  not  appear.  The  coronation  was  by  Columba  at 
lona,  and  the  account  by  his  successor  Cummin  the  Fair ;  (2)  that  Adamnan 
(Abbot,  679-704)  gives  an  account  of  another  coronation  in  which  the  stone  is  not 
mentioned  {Reeves,  p.  233),     He  giiggests  that  the  Coronation  Stone  was  the  pillow 


256  EARLY   IRISH   HISTORY. 

There  is  no  suggestion  in  Gaelic  tradition  that  the  enchanter] 
stone  disappeared  in  any  other  way,  and  there  is  no  suggestion 
in  the  traditions  of  Alba  that  the  stone  was  acquired  in  any 
other  way.  The  tradition  running  with  the  custody  of  the 
stone  in  Alba,  varying  and  inconsistent  in  detail,  as  is  the  way 
with  such  evidence,  is  uniform  in  this,  that  the  stone  was 
brought  by  the  Gael  from  Erin  to  Alba  and  was  finally  placed 
at  Scone  by  Kenneth  MacAlpin.  Baldred  Bisset  (1301,  the 
earliest  notice),  Fordun,  the  Chronicon  Rythmicum,  Wyntoun, 
Scotichronicon,  Blaud,  Harvey,  Bocce,  all  agree  in  this,  and 
Skene,  who  made  the  Coronation  Stone  the  subject  of  a  special 
treatise,  does  not  quote  a  single  statement  from  any  writer  to 
the  effect  that  the  stone  came  from  any  other  place.  He 
relies  on  the  discrepancies  in  detail,  on  the  mythical  character 
of  the  "  early  wanderings"  of  the  stone  with  the  Gael,  and  on 
the  silence  of  some  authors  about  it.  For  instance,  he  says 
neither  Cummin  the  White  nor  Adamnan  say  anything  about 
it  when  Columba  "ordained"  Aidan ;  throughout  the  whole 
description  of  the  ordination  there  is  not  a  single  word  about 
the  Lia  Fail.  But  why  should  there  be  ?  The  ordination  by 
Columba  was  not  an  "  inauguration  but  a  spiritual  act."  "  In 
the  words  of  ordination,"  writes  Adamnan,  "  he  prophesied  the 
future  for  sons,  grandsons,  and  great  grandsons,  and  placing 
his  {i.e.,  Columba's)  hand  on  his  head,  ordaining,  blessed  him.'^^ 

of  St.  Columba.  A  flagRtone  would  not  be  suited  for  even  a  penitential  pillow. 
We  may  be  sure  Columba's  pillow  was  round,  like  the  wooden  pillows  commonly 
used  up  till  Tudor  times. 

^^  Martene  thought — we  may  humbly  add  our  view  (though  Bishop  Reeves 
thought  otherwise)  that  Martene  thought  rightly — that  the  mode  of  ordination  was 
prescribed  in  the  "  liber  vitreus  "  presented  to  Columba  by  the  angel. — Reeves' 
Adamnan,  19S. 

The  earliest  notice  we  have,  writes  Bishop  Reeves,  of  ecclesiastical  interference 
in  the  coufirmatiou  of  royalty  in  Ireland  is  found  in  the  Annals  of  Ulster,  A.D. 
992,  where  it  is  recorded  that  the  coarb  of  St.  Patrick,  t>o  ef  te^  gt^A-o  Kis  Tpo\\  Aoxi 
triAC  "OoiiinAilL  i  ^lA-onice  Sajtica  pAC|tAic  (conferred  the  order  of  kingship  on 
Aedh,  the  son  of  Doimiall,  in  presence  of  the  congregation  of  Patrick).  This, 
however,  was  only  the  case  of  a  provincial  kingdom,  probably  the  commencement 
of  the  practice. — Adamnan,  199. 

Martene  adds — "  Sed  in  iEdani  beuedictione  illud  singulare  occurrit  quod 
noa  ab  episcopo  sed  ab  abbate  fnorit  ordinatus." — De  Antiq,  Eccles.  II.  10. 


[    257     3 


CHAPTER  XVII. 

CUILDREIMHNE   AND   THE   DESERTION   OF   TARA. 

'T^HE  Northern  Ui  Neill  having  succeeded  in  vanquishing 
-*■  their  Connact  kinsmen  at  the  battle  of  Ocha  (487),  soon 
after  entered  upon  a  struggle  with  the  Southern  branch. 
A  brief  account  of  the  conflicts  during  this  period  is  necessary 
in  order  to  explain  the  true  cause  of  the  desertion  of  Tara,  and, 
incidentally,  the  true  cause  of  the  battle  of  Guildreimhne. 

In  504  A.D.  (499  F.M.)  Muirchertach  Mac  Erca  and  the  Northern 
Ui  Neill  defeated  Duach  Teangumha,  King  of  Conuact,  at  the  battle  of 
the  Curlieu  Hills.  Duach  had  taken  his  brother  Eocaid  Tirmcharna 
prisoner  against  the  guarantee  and  protection  of  Muirchertach,  and  this 
was  the  cause  of  this  battle  and  two  others  against  the  Connact  men. 
A  certain  woman  caused  it — Duiseach,  the  daughter  of  Duach,  and  wife 
of  Muirchertach.  She  incited  her  husband  to  fight  her  father,  because 
he  had  made  a  prisoner  of  her  foster-father  Eocaid  against  her  husband's 
guarantee. 

In  567  Baedan  was  slain  in  the  battle  of  Leim-an-eich  by  Comain, 
the  son  of  Coleman  Beg,  the  son  of  Diarmaid,  and  Comain  his  cousin. 
At  the  instance  of  Coleman  Beg  they  did  the  deed. 

In  572  Aedh,  son  of  Ainmire,  fought  the  battle  of  Bealach-Feadha, 
in  which  fell  Coleman  Beg. 

In  579  he  fought  the  battle  of  Druim  Mic  Earca  against  the  Cinel- 
Eogan,  in  which  fell  Colga,  son  of  Domnall,  the  Ard  Righ. 

Aedh  Slaine,  son  of  Diarmaid,  in  596  killed  his  nephew,  Suibhne, 
the  son  of  Coleman  Beg,  though  forewarned  by  Columba  not  to  be 
guilty  of  the  "parracida."  Aedh  was  slain  by  Suibhne,  son  of  Conall, 
in  A.D.  600. 

In  597  Coleman  Rimedh,  joint  king  with  Aedh  Slaine,  defeated 
Conall  Cu,  the  son  of  Aedh,  son  of  Ainmire,  at  Sleamhain  in  Meath.^ 

The  battle  of  Sligo  (543)  was  fought  and  won  by  the  Northern  Ui 
Neill  and  their  allies  over  the  men  of  Connact,  and  Eogan  Bel  was 
slain. 

In  559  Fergus  and  Domnall,  the  sons  of  Muirchertach,  and  the 
Cinel-Eogain  slew  his  successor,  Olioll  Indbann,  at  the  battle  of  Cuil 
Conaire  in  Mayo. 

In  561  was  fought  the  celebrated  battle  of  Cuildreimhne  (Cool- 
drevna),  a  few  miles  north  of  Sligo,  in  which  the  Northern  Ui  Neill 
routed  the  Southern  Ui  Neill. 

A  perusal  of  this  formidable  list  is  suflScient  to  prove  that 
it  is  not  necessary  to  look  outside  the  perpetual  hostility  that 
raged  between  the  Northern  and  Southern  Ui  Neill  for  the 

*  Adamnan,  p.  14, — Reeves. 

S 


25S  fiARLY   IRISH   HISTORY. 

causes  of  the  battle  of  Cuildreimhne.  However,  it  so  happened 
that  about  this  time  St.  Columba  set  out  for  the  evange- 
lization of  thePicts,  and  a  popular  legend  has  connected  his  name 
with  the  battle,  and  assigned  his  share  in  bringing  it  about  as 
the  cause  of  his  leaving  Erin.  The  Four  Masters  have  thf 
following  entry  at  555.     The  true  date  is  561  A.D. : — 

The  battle  of  Cuildreimhne  was  gained  against  Diarmaid,  son  of 
Cearball  (Southern  Ui  Neill),  by  Fergus  and  Domnall,  the  tAvo  sons  of 
Muirchertach,  son  of  Erca,"  by  Ainmire,  the  son  of  Sedna,  and  by 
Ninnidh,  the  son  of  Duach,  and  by  Aedh,  the  son  of  Eocaid  Tirni- 
charna,  King  of  Connact.  It  was  in  revenge  for  the  killing  of  Curnan, 
son  of  Aedh,  son  of  Tirmcharna,  while  under  the  protection  of  Colum- 
cille,  that  the  Clanna-Neill  of  the  North  and  the  Connact  men  gave  this 
battle  of  Cuildreimhne  to  King  Diarmaid ;  and  also  on  account  of  the 
sentence  which  Diarmaid  passed  against  Columcille  about  a  book  of 
Finnen,  when  they  left  it  to  the  award  of  Diarmaid,  who  pronounced 
the  celebrated  decision — "  To  every  cow  belongs  its  calf,"  etc. 

Columba  was  also  in  after  times  accused  of  having  caused 
two  other  battles,  the  battle  of  Culrathain,  by  his  contention 
with  Comgall  for  a  church  near  Ross  Torathair,  and  the  battle 
of  Cuil  Feadha  against  Colman,  the  son  of  King  Diarmaid,  in 
revenge  for  his  having  been  outraged  in  the  case  of  Baedan, 
the  son  of  Ninnidh,  King  of  Erin,  who  was  killed  by  Colman  at 
Leim-an-eich,  in  violation  of  the  protection  (coitneiiige)  of 
Columcille.^  A  legend  was  put  in  circulation  in  after  time 
that  it  was  as  a  penance  for  these  misdeeds,  either  voluntary,  or 
imposed  by  St.  Molaise,  of  Devenish,  that  St.  Columba  went 
into  exile  to  lona,  and  carried  the  Gospel  to  the  Picts,  "  to  win," 
said  St.  Molaise,  "as  many  souls  for  Christ  as  had  been  lost  in 
these  battles."  As  regards  the  two  last  mentioned  battles,  Bishop 
Reeves  has  proved  that  they  took  place  after  his  departure  for 
[ona — one  as  long  as  twenty-four  years  afterwards.  He 
suggests,  it  is  true,  a  possible  transposition  of  dates ;  but  this 
appears  to  us  too  conjectural.  We  shall  therefore  confine  our 
attention  to  Cuildreimhne.  The  Annals  of  Ulster  and  Tiger- 
nach,  giving  no  details,  state  that  the  battle  was  won  through 
the  prayer  of  Columba — per  orationem  Golwincille.  The  so- 
called  prayer  (the  Four  Masters  do  not  call  it  a  prayer)  is  given 
by  them  and  by  Tigernach.  It  represents  Columba  as  being 
seemingly  an  on-looker  at  the  battle,  and  saying  or  praying  :— 

^  See  genealogical  table  at  p.  169. 

'See  Kseves'  Adamna/i,  2-47,  for  full  details. 


CUILDREIMHXE   AND  THE   DESERTION   OF   TARA.  £59 

'*  O  God,  why  keepest  Thou  not  the  mist  off  from  us,  if  per- 
chance  we  may  reckon  the  number  of  the  host,  (the  mist)  that 
deprives  us  of  judgment.  The  host  that  marches  round  a  cairn. 
'Tis  a  son  of  the  storm  that  betrays  them  (i.e.,  the  Southern  Ui 
Neill.)  He  is  my  Druid  who  denies  me  not.  The  Son  of  God 
it  is  who  will  work  with  me.  Beautiful  it  makes  the  onset, 
Baetan's*  steed  before  the  host,  it  seems  good  to  Baetan  of  the 
yellow  hair  ;  it  will  bear  its  burden  upon  it." 

There  is  not  much  devotional  fervour  in  this  so-called 
prayer,  and  if  it  was  the  only  help  Columba  gave,  he  got  credit 
for  the  victory  very  easily.  This  is  the  poetry  of  the  battle. 
The  prose,  which  we  now  proceed  to  give  from  Tigernach,  is 
more  reliable.  "  Fraech^n,  the  son  of  Teniusan,  'tis  he  that 
made  the  '  Druid's  fence '  for  Diarmaid,  Tuatan,  the  son  of 
Dimman,  son  of  Saran,  son  of  Cormac,  son  of  Eogan,  'tis  he  that 
overturned  the  'Druid's  fence.'  Maglamde  went  across  it, 
and  he  alone  was  slain."  So  far  Tigernach.  The  Four  Masters 
add : — "  Three  thousand  was  the  number  that  fell  of  Diarmaid's 
people.  One  man  only  fell  on  the  other  side,  Maglaim  was  his 
name,  for  it  was  he  that  passed  beyond  the  Druid's  fence  (et^be 
n-t)f uA-o)."  ^  We  suppose  this  means  that  he  went  across  the 
Druid's  fence  into  the  mist,  and  was  slain.  The  honours  of  the 
day  clearly  rested  with  the  wizard,  Tuatan,  the  son  of  Dimman. 

Another  cause  assigned  for  Columba's  rousing  his  kinsmen 
to  fight  at  Cuildreimhne  was  that  his  protection  had  been 
violated  by  King  Diarmaid.  Curnan,  son  of  Aedh,  King  of 
Connact,  attended  the  Feis  of  Tara  in  560,  and  was  guilty  of 
homicide  within  the  precinct.  He  fled.  Keating,  following  the 
account  in  the  "  Aeded  Diarmata,"  says  he  fled  to  the  protection 
of  the  sons  of  Muirchertach  MacErca,  i.e.,  Domhnall  and  Fergus, 
and  to  the  protection  of  Columba.  Tigernach  says  nothing  of 
the  protection  of  Fergus  and   Domhnall,  but  simply  records 

*  Baetan  was  the  third  son  of  Muirchertach  Mor  mac  Erca,  and  afterwards 
became  Ard  Righ.  And  the  above  appears  to  us  to  be  an  extract  from  a  praise 
poem  on  him  after  he  became,  and  whilst  he  was,  Ard  Righ.  Columba  is  supposed 
to  be  looking  on,  and  says  the  son  of  the  wind  betrays  them  by  blowing  away 
the  mist,  betraying  the  men  who  go  round  the  cairn.  The  words  in  brackets  are 
ours.  The  words  "  the  host "  in  the  third  line  should,  we  suggest,  be  "  the  mist." 
We  offer  this  view,  of  course,  with  great  diffidence.  For  praise  poem  see 
Annals  »f  Vlsier,  A.D.  562. 

"Tigernach,  Rev.  Celt,  xvii.,  144.  O'Donovan,  and  also  Hennessy  and  Todd,  misa 
the  correct  translation  of  Cviacati  a  re  -po  l,A  inx)  ei-pbe  n--ojioAX>  xa.^^  a  cent).  It 
means  overturned.  So  Stokes  and  Windiach  sub  voce.  O'Donovan  has  *' placed  the 
Erbe  Dsuadh  over  his  {i.e.,  Diarmaid's)  head."  Hennessy  is  equally  at  fault.  He 
translates,  "  Tuathau  ij.  was  that  threw  overhead  the  Druid's  Erbe." — Ann.  Ulst. 


2G0  EAllLY   IRISH   HISTORY. 

the  "  death  of  Curnan,  son  of  Aedh,  son  of  Tirmcharna,  by 
Diarmait,  son  of  Cerball,  while  under  Colm-Cille's  protection 
A\[.  ComAifce) ;  and  tliis  is  one  of  the  causes  of  the  battle  of 
Cuildreimhne.'"^  The  Four  Masters  say  Carnan  was  put  to 
death  in  violation  of  the  guarantee  and  protection  of  Columba 
(CA^t  flAtiAit)  1  coitiAipge  Coluim  CiUe.)  The  words  "  violation 
of  protection  "  appear  to  be  used  in  two  senses.  Firstly,  they 
mean  the  violation  of  an  express  guarantee,  e.g.,  when  Fergus 
MacRoigh  gave  a  guarantee  to  Naoise  that  Concobar  would 
keep  his  promise  not  to  injure  him,  etc.  And,  secondly,  they 
appear  to  be  used  to  mean  the  violation  of  a  right  of  sanctuary 
where  there  has  been  no  agreement  express  or  implied. 
Tigernach  appears  to  refer  to  this  right  of  sanctuary,  but  the 
Four  Masters,  seeing,  perhaps,  the  difficulty  of  sustaining  an 
ambulatory  right  of  sanctuary — a  right  not  attached  to  a  par- 
ticular place,  but  to  the  person  of  the  protector — add  that 
Columba  had  given  a  guarantee  of  safe  conduct  to  Curnan. 
Why  ?  We  are  not  aware  of  any  ecclesiastical  authority  to 
sustain  the  existence  of  an  ambulatory  right  of  sanctuary.  So 
far  as  we  know  the  right  of  asylum  in  pagan  times  and  the 
right  of  sanctuary  in  Christian  times  was  always  attached 
to   some  church,  shrine,  enclosure,  or  place. 

The  innocence  of  Columba,  it  is  further  stated,  was  attested 
by  a  miracle.  This,  as  Adamnan  tells  us,  occurred  at  a  synod 
which  was  held  at  Tailtin — in  the  year  after  the  battle 
according  to  the  generally  received  view. 

For,  after  the  lapse  of  many  seasons,  when  St.  Columba  was 
excommunicated  by  a  certain  synod  for  some  venial,  and  so  far  ex- 
cusable matters,  not  rightly,  as  afterwards  became  clear,  at  the  last  he 
came  to  the  same  assembly  that  had  been  gathered  against  himself. 
And  when  St.  Brendan,  of  Birr,  saw  him  approaching  he  quickly  rose 
and,  with  face  bowed  down,  reverently  kissed  him.  Ihe  seniors 
remonstrated,  and  asked  why  he  did  not  decline  to  rise  before,  and 
kiss  an  excommunicated  person.  "  I  have  seen,"  said  Brendan,  "  a  very 
luminous  column  of  fiery  hair  going  before  the  man  of  God  whom  ye 
despise,  and  also  holy  angels  the  companions  of  his  walk  through  the 
field.  Therefore  I  dare  not  slight  this  man,  whom  I  see  to  be  fore- 
ordained by  God  to  be  the  leader  of  the  people  unto  life."  When  he 
had  thus  spoken,  not  only  did  they  desist,  but  they  even  honoured  him 
with  great  veneration.     This  thing  was  done  at  Tailte  (Tailtin).'' 


«  Keating,  Text  and  Translation,  Reeves'  Adamnan,  248.   Mev.  Celt,  17,  141. 
'  Adamnan,  III.  c.  3.,  abridged. 


OUILDREIMHNE   AND  THE  DESERTION   OF  TARA.  261 

There  was  thus,  in  fact,  no  sentence  of  excommunication 

fulminated  at  all.     Assuming  that   at  first   the   synod   held 

Columba  guilty  of  bellicose  irregularities,  which  Adamnan  and 

every  cleric  of  his  time  would  consider  venial  enough,  at  the 

same  sitting,  on  further  reconsideration,  they  returned  a  verdict 

of  acquittal,  which  we  see  no  reason  for    disturbing.      The 

action  of  the  synod,  based,  as  no  doubt  it  was,  on  the  personal 

protestation  of  St.  Columba,  ought  to  have  set  the  matter  at 

rest  for  ever,  especially  as  the  Northern  Ui  Neill  did   not, 

either  before  or  afterwards,  require  any  ecclesiastical  stimulus 

to  set  them  moving  on  the  war-path  against  their  southern 

kinsmen.     This  view  is  supported  by  Columba's  action  at  the 

celebrated  Convention  of  Drumceat,  as  to  which  there  is  no 

dispute.     It  took  place  in  575.     The  precise  spot  where  the 

assembly   was   held   is  the  long  mound  in  Roe   Park,    near 

Limavady,  called  the  Mullagh  and  sometimes  Daisy  Hill.      It 

was  held  there,  partly  for  the  convenience  of  King  Aedh,  but 

more  especially  because  it  was  the  patrimonial  territory  of  his 

family.8     Sedna,  the  grandfather  of  Aedh,  and  Feidilim,  were 

brothers,  being  sons  of  Conall  Gulban,  so  Columba  came  there 

as  a  peace-maker,  not  to  provoke  but  to  prevent  fratricidal 

war  between  tlie  Gael  of  Erin  and  thoir  brethren  and  kinsmen 

in  Alba.     As  early  as  the  third  century,  according  to  our  texts, 

there  was  a  settlement  of  the  Gael  in  Alba  under  Cairbre 

Riada,  son  of  Conaire,  son  of  Mogh  Lamha  of  Munster.     x\ 

great  famine  came  upon  Munster,  and  Cairbre  led  a  party  of 

his  tribe  to  the  north  of  Antrim  and  another  to  Alba,  where, 

Bede  tells  us,  by  agreement  or  force  of  arms  they  obtained  a 

settlement  amongst  the  Picts,  and  were   called,  from  their 

leader,  Dalriadini,  i.e.,  Dalriada.      Three  centuries  afterwards 

this  colony  was  reinforced  or  absorbed  by  a  fresh  immigration 

of  the  Gael  under  the  sons  of  Ere — Fergus,  iEngus,  and  Loarn — 

who  took  possession  of  a  large  territory  there.     Fergus  Mac  Ere 

became  their  chieftain.      From  this  Fergus,  antiquaries  assure 

us,  descended  the  royal  line  of    Scotland    and    the    English 

monarchs  from  the  time  of  James  the  First.     In   574  Aidan, 

the  son  of  Gabhran,  succeeded  to  the  lordship  (cofeAi)  of  the 

Gael  of  Alba,  or,  as  it  came  to  be  styled,  Little  Scotia,  and,  as 

we  have  stated,  was  "  ordained  "  by  Columba  when  he  took 

"  Roevea'  Adamnan,  37. 


262  EARLY   IRISH   HISTORY. 

the  title  of  king.  At  this  ceremony  Columba  admonished  him 
by  "  prophecy  "  never  unrighteously  to  go  against  the  kindred 
in  Erin.9 

Aidan,  instead  of  remaining  the  chieftain  of  a  dependent 
colony,  now  claimed  to  be  an  independent  sovereign,  while 
the  High  King  of  Erin  appears  to  have  demanded  tribute,  and 
possibly  hostages,  from  him.  This  was  the  principal  cause 
which  induced  Columba  to  go  to  the  Convention  at  Drumceat 

That  Congress  had  three  aims  in  view, 
His  crown  from  Scanlan  Mor  to  wrest, 
On  Riada's  tribes  a  rent  to  place 
From  Erin's  land  her  bards  to  drive. 

The  bards  were  in  danger,  it  is  said,  of  expulsion  from  Erin 
on  three  occasions.  Their  "  pot  of  covetousness  "  (coi|;e  f xAnci) 
had  made  them  odious  to  the  people.  Their  demands  were  exor- 
bitant, and  their  numbers  excessive.  On  two  previous  occasions 
they  had  escaped  through  the  favour  and  support  of  the  Northern 
Ui  Neill,  and,  on  this  occasion,  they  found  an  advocate  in 
Columba  the  Peacemaker,  and  were  "  reformed."  Their  num- 
bers were  reduced,  and  certain  lands  were  assigned  to  them  in 
various  quarters,  in  return  for  which  they  were  required  to 
open  schools,  and  teach  gratuitously.  The  particulars  of  this 
reform  are  given  in  detail  by  Keating,  and  in  the  introduction  to 
the  Amhra  of  Columcille.  The  bardic  schools  then  established 
flourished,  with  scarcely  a  break,  down  to  the  17th  century. 

The  Scanlan  referred  to  was  lord  of  Ossory,  and  was  held  in 
bonds  by  Aedh  for  refusing  to  pay  the  customary  tribute  (there 
are,  as  usual,  variants  of  the  story).  He  was  released  through 
the  interference  of  Columba.  The  territory  of  Ossory  was  co- 
extensive with  the  present  diocese  ;  it  stretched  from  Sliere- 
bloom  to  the  meeting  of  the  three  waters,  near  Waterford. 
According  to  the  Book  of  Rights,  the  chieftain  of  Ossory  was 
entitled  to  receive  from  the  Ard-Righ  a  gift  (cuxAfiAfCAil)  of 
thirty  steeds,  thirty  coats  of  mail,  and  forty  swords.  This  free 
gift,  we  assume,  was  in  the  nature  of  a  "  retainer,"  and  repre- 


8  "  The  service  rendpred  by  Columba  on  this  occasion  was  productive  of 
reciprocal  advantage,  for  while  it  couferrod  the  sanction  of  religion  on  the  question- 
able title  of  Aidan  it  secured  to  the  Abbot  of  Hy  a  prescriptive  supremacy  in  the 
politico-religious  administration  of  Dalriada." — Keevea'  Adamnan,  198. 


CUILDREIMHXE   AND   THE   DESERTION   OF  TARA.  263 

sented  the  primitive  gift  of  cows,  which  formed  the  bond  between 
over  and  under  lordships.     The  Book  of  Rights  states  that 
when  the  King  of  Cashel  was  not  Ard-Righ  no  tribute  was  due 
to  him  from  Ossory.     When  the  King  of  Cashel  was  Ard-Righ 
it  states,  he  was  entitled  (1)  to  rents  {cA\\a)  or   tributes  from 
specified  territories  in  Tipperary,  Kerry,  Clare,  and  Waterford. 
Ossory  is  not  included.     The  amount  of  this  tribute  is  given  in 
great  detail  for  the  specified  territories,  ranging  from  a  thousand 
cows,  oxen,  rams,  and  mantles  from  Burren,  to  two  thousand 
hogs  and  a  thousand  cows  from  the  Deisi  of  Waterford.    He  w^as 
also  entitled  (2)  to  visitation  and  refection  [^a.  t\AA\\\c  -\  a  tieAtA 
\:o\<\\a]  from  the  King  of  Cruachan  (ConriAtc)  for  two  quarters 
of  a  year,  and  to  accompany  him  to  Tir-Conaill,  in  return  for  a 
free  gift  of  one  hundred  drinking  horns,  one  hundred  swords, 
one  hundred  steeds,  and  one  hundred  tunics.     And  so  with  the 
Kings  of  Tir  Conall,  Tir  Eogain,  the  Lord  of  Tullahogue,  and 
the  Kings  of  Oirghialla,  Ulidia,  Tara  and  Ath   Cliath.      We 
do  not  attach  very  great  importance  to  the  Booh  of  Rights.    It 
was  evidently  composed   or  thoroughly  recast  about  the  time 
of  Cormac  mac  Cuilenainn,  and  is  intended  to  magnify  and  exalt 
Cashel  in  a  secular  and  religious  point  of  view.     Whatever 
value  the  book  may  have  as  regards  the  provincial  kings,  as 
regards  the  Ard-Righ  it  seems  to  indicate  that,  at  any  rate  in 
times  of  peace,  he  had  no  rights  except  the  right  of  Visitation 
and  Refection.     But  the  frequent  raids  made  by  the  Ard-Righ 
not  only  to  lift  the  bojiomA  but  to  enforce  tribute  from  every 
part  of  Erin,  plainly  show  that,  whatever  his  rights  may  have 
been,  his  claims  were  much  more  extensive. 

The  most  important  question  at  the  Convention,  however, 
was  the  bopoifi^  on  Alba.  After  Columba  came  to  the  Congress, 
and  the  matter  was  debated,  he  was  requested  to  decide 
between  the  men  of  Erin  and  the  men  of  Alba.  "  It  is  not  I 
who  will  decide,"  said  he,  "  but  yonder  youth,"  pointing  to 
Coloman.  Coleman  then  gave  judgment,  and  the  decision  he 
gave  was,  "  Their  expeditions  and  hostings  to  be  with  the  men 
of  Erin  always,  for  hostings  always  belong  to  the  parent  stock. 
Their  tributes  and  games  and  shipping  to  be  with  the  men  of 
Alba." 

Colgan  tells  us  that,  in  memory  of  the  friendly  settlement 
betvreen  the  two  kindreds,  and  the  blessing  of  peace  which  it 
sec  red,  an  annual  celebration  and  public  procession  of  thanks- 


264  EARLY   IRISH   HISTORY. 

giving  was  held  every  year  at  Drumceat  down  to  his  time 
(1646).io 

A  good  story,  with  a  spice  of  legal  trickery  or  sharp  practice 
in  it,  was  evidently  greatly  relished  in  the  Scriptorium  and  the 
cloisters.  As  such  stories  are  frequently  quoted  as  evidence  of 
historical  events,  our  readers  may  appraise  their  value  from  the 
following  samples,  which  we  give  in  the  order  of  time  :  "When 
Lugaid  MacCon  was  King  of  Tara,  his  wife  had  a  plot  oi  glaiskin 
as  part  of  her  separate  estate.  This  glaishin  was  a  blue  dying 
stuff  or  woad.  It  was  a  valuable  crop,  requiring  great  care 
and  watching  during  growth.  A  neighbour's  sheep  trespassed 
and  ate  up  the  queen's  glaishin.  The  queen  sued  the  tres- 
passer before  the  king,  who  awarded  the  sheep  for  the  damage. 
"No,"  protested  the  youthful  Cormac  MacArt,  who  was  the 

rightful  king,  and  present  in  disguise,  "  the  fleece  is  enough  ; 
the  wool  for  the  woad,  for  both  will  grow  again."  "  A  true 
judgment,"  exclaimed  the  bystanders.  "  He  is  surely  the  son 
of  a  king."  Cormac  regained  his  throne  by  his  bad  law-point. 
The  second  story  is  the  cow-book  and  the  calf-book  judgment, 
which  is  equally  meritorious  : — St.  Finnen,  of  Moville,  objected 
[why  ?]  to  a  copy  being  made  of  his  Psalter  or  Gospel.  Columba 
borrowed  the  book  and  copied  it  furtively,  in  his  church,  with 
the  aid  of  miraculous  light,  in  the  night-time.  Finnen  claimed 
the  copy.  It  was  left  to  the  award  of  King  Diarmaid.  He 
gave  judgment  against  Columba,  saying  : — "  Le  gach  boin  a 
boinin,  acus  le  gach  leabhar  a  leabhran — To  every  cow  her  calf, 
to  every  (cow)  book  the  (calf)  book  (belongeth)."  ^^  And  this  was 
one  of  the  causes  of  the  battle  of  Cuildreimhne  !  !  The  third 
story  relates  to  the  ruse  by  which  St.  Moling  is  stated,  in  a 
historical  romance  called  the  "  Boromha  Laigen,"  to  have 
obtained  the  remission  of  this  odious  tax  from  Finnachta 
Fleadach.  The  word  "  Luan  "  in  Gaelic  means  Monday,  and 
also  the  Day  of  Judgment.  The  sequel  may  be  easily  guessed. 
The  Saint  induced  Finnachta  to  remit  the  tax  till  Luan,  which 
he  then  successfully  maintained  meant  the  day  of  Judgment, 
though  the  monarch  intended  the  words  to  mean  till  Monday. 
"  It  would  be  better,"  said  an  unconscious  humourist,  in  the 
Dublin  University  Magazine,  "  for  the  people  of  Leinster  to 
have  continued  to  pay  the  Boromha  tribute  to  this  day  than 

1"  The  story  of  the  penance  was,  of  eourse,  not  forgotten.  Columba  was  bounfl 
never  to  see  p]rin  again.  How  was  this  to  be  got  over  ?  He  came,  we  are  asked 
to  believe,  to  Erin  with  a  bandage  over  his  eyes  ;  went  bandaged  to  the  conven- 
tion, and  never  removed  it  until  he  got  back  to  lona  !  !  ! — Reeves'  Admnnan,  92. 

^^  Legend  says  the  fragment  of  the  psalter  preserved  in  an  antique  metal 
casket,  known  as  the  Gaihach  or  Battler,  is  the  actual  copy,  and  that,  notwith- 
standing the  judgment  of  the  king,  it  remained  witli  Columba.— See  Gilbert 
facsimile  MSS.,  viii.,  and  plates  iii.  and  iv. 


CUILDREIMHNE   AND   TEE   DESERTION   OF  TARA.  2G5 

that  this  St.  Moling  should  have  set  an  example  of  clerical 
special  pleading  and  mental  reservation  in  the  equivocation  by 
which  he  is  represented  to  have  procured  the  release  from  that 
irapost."^^ 

The  battle  of  Cuildreimhne  would  have  been  fought  if 
Columba  had  never  existed,  and  the  desertion  of  Tara  can 
be  accounted  for  without  praying  in  aid  the  bells  and  curses  of 
St.  Kuadhan.  Tara  occupied  a  central  position  in  the  province 
of  Meath.  This  district  was  in  the  exclusive  occupation  of  the 
Southern  Ui  Neill.  When  Diarmaid  was  assassinated,  Fergus 
and  Domnhall,  his  successors,  were  residing  at  Aileach,  near 
Derry.  Is  it  likely  that  they  would  come  with  their  house- 
holds, and  reside  at  Tara,  in  the  midst  of  their  rivals  and 
enemies  ?  Certainly  not.  They  would  not  have  been  safe 
without  or  within  the  ramparts  of  Tara  itself.  On  the  other 
hand,  the  occupation  of  Tara  carried  with  it,  in  the  minds  of 
the  Gael,  historic  and  superstitious  associations.  The  chieftain 
residing  there  would  appear  to  be  in  visible  ownership  of  the 
supreme  power.  Consequently,  when  Fergus  and  Domnhall 
decided  to  remain  at  Aileach,  they  determined  not  to  allow 
the  Southern  Ui  Neill  to  occupy  it,  and  it  was  plainly  for  that 
reason  that  Tara  was  dismantled  and  abandoned,  and  the  Lia 
Fail  sent  out  of  Erin.  If  these  weighty  reasons  did  not  exist 
we  may  be  certam  that  the  Northern  (Ji  Neill  would  not  be 
terrified  or  influenced  by  the  belligerent  curses  and  bells  of  a 
cleric  belonging  to  the  race  of  Olioll  Olum.'^  A  cleric  of 
the  Northern  branch  would  promptly  and  effectually,  by 
suitable  prayer  of  reconciliation  and  purification,  have 
cleansed  the  precincts  of  the  venerated  Hill.  The  legend 
of  St.  Rhuadan  is  not  found  in  the  Annals  of  Ulster,  Tigernach, 
or  the  Four  Masters.  It  is  embodied  very  fully  as  an  "  inset  '* 
taken  from  some  ursgeul  in  our  opinion,  in  MacGeoghan's 
Translation  of  the  Annals  of  Clonmacnoise,^^  from  which  we 
quote.  It  is  found  substantially  the  same  in  the  Book  of 
Lismore  and  in  an  Irish  MS.  in  Trinity  College,  in  a  fifteenth 
century  vellum  in  the  British  Museum,  which  professes  to 
copy  from  the  Bookof  Sligo,  &c.,  &c.  The  nature  of  this  ursgeul, 

^2  See  O'Donovan's  Note,  F.  M.  and  O'  Mahony,  306.  The  Ard  Righ  could  not 
according  to  the  Brehon  Law  Tracts,  as  we  have  shown,  ante  cxiv. ,  remit  food 
rents  or,  we  assume,  the  cow  rent,  horoma,  so  as  to  bind  his  successors  who  made 
frequent  hostings  to  lift  it. 

^•* "  The  cause  of  the  extinction  of  the  regality  of  Tara  was  tlie  fasting  of 
Patrick  and  his  muinter  against  Laoghaire,  the  son  of  Niall,  and  the  fasting  of 
Ruadhan  of  Lorrha,  the  son  of  Aengus,  with  the  saints  of  Erin,  against  Diarmaid, 
the  son  of  Cearbhall,  and  against  the  four  tribes  of  Tara  ;  and  these  saints 
promised  {i.e.,  predicted)  that  there  should  not  be  a  (royal)  house  at  Tara,  of  the 
race  of  Laoghaire,  or  of  the  seed  of  Niall,  (but)  that  there  should  be  of  the  race  of 
Olioll  Glum."  O'Donovan  adds  in  a  note — "  There  is  no  authority  for  this  promise 
or  prediction  of  the  s;iints  in  any  of  the  lives  of  St.  Patrick,  or  even  in  that  of 
Rodanur.,  who  was  himself  of  the  race  of  Olioll  Glum." — te<ibAti  riA  5CeAj<c,  53. 

"  Murphy,  S.J.,  Annals  of  Clonmacnoise,  p.  85  (condensed). 


266  EARLY   IRISH   HISTORY. 

which  is  too  long  to  be  given  here,  may  be  gathered  from  the 
opening  sentences. ^^ 

King  Dermott,  to  make  manifest  unto  his  subjects  his  magnificence, 
appointed  a  sergeant  named  Buckleare,  with  a  speare,  to  travel  through 
the  kingdom  with  power  to  break  such  doors  of  the  nobihties  as  he 
should  find  narrow  in  such  a  manner  as  the  speare  could  not  enter  into 
the  house  thwartwayes  or  in  the  breadth  of  the  doors.  Buckleare 
made  his  way,  speare  in  hand,  to  the  house  of  Aedh  Guaire  of  Killfechan 
in  Connact.  Guaire  gave  a  stroke  of  his  sword  to  the  spearman  and 
took  his  head  off  him.  This  Guaire  was  half-brother  to  St.  Ruadhan 
of  Lothra  in  Upper  Ormond,  Tipperary,  to  whom  he  fled  for  protection 
after  beheading  the  king's  sergeant.  The  saint  made  a  hole  in  the  floor 
of  his  hut  and  put  Guaire  into  it.  When  Diarmaid  arrived,  Ruadhan 
being  enquired  of  the  place  where  Guaire  was  would  not  lie  but  tell  the 
truth,  as  was  his  custom.  The  king  saluted  him  with  bitter  and 
pinching  words,  saying  that  it  did  not  belong  to  one  of  his  coat  to 
shelter  and  keep  in  his  house  a  man  who  had  killed  the  king's  sergeant, 
who  was  employed  in  the  execution  of  his  instructions,  and  prayed 
that  there  might  be  no  abbot  or  monk  to  succeed  him  in  his  place  at 
Lothra.  "  By  God's  grace,"  said  Roadanus,  "  there  shall  be  abbots 
and  monks  for  ever,  and  there  shall  be  no  king  dwelling  in  Tara  from 
henceforward."  The  king  asked  where  Guaire  was.  "  I  know  not," 
said  Roadanus,  "  unless  if  he  be  not  where  jou  stand  ;  "  for  so  he  was 
indeed  right  under  the  king's  feet.  The  king  afterwards  had  suspicions, 
searched,  found  Guaire,  and  took  him  prisoner  to  Tai-a.  Roadanus 
followed  him,  and  on  his  refusing  to  release  Guaire  Roadanus  and  a 
bishop  that  was  with  him  took  their  bells,  which  they  rung  hardly,  and 
cursed  the  king  and  place,  and  prayed  God  that  no  king  or  queen  ever 
after  would  or  could  dwell  in  Tara,  and  that  it  should  be  waste  forever, 
without  court  or  palace,  as  it  fell  out  accordingly.  The  conclusion  is 
curious  and  deserves  attention: — "Roadanus  being  refused,  tendered  a 
ransom  of  thirty  horses,  which  the  king  was  contented  to  accept,  and 
so  granted  him  Aedh  Guaire." 

Thus  the  quarrel  ended.  The  curses  were,  no  doubt, 
revoked,  the  bells  silenced,  and  peace  made  on  the  basis  of  the 
status  quo  ante  helium}^ 

"  Numerous  entries  in  otir  annals  show  that  curses  and  bells  had  very  little 
influence  in  preventing  outrages  on  ecclesiastical  privileges  and  sanctuaries.  For 
instance,  St.  Carthach  was  expelled  from  Rahan,  near  Tullamore,  in  636  by  the 
Southern  Ui  Neill,  the  only  offence  of  the  venerable  abbot  apparently  being 
that  he  did  not  belong  to  their  own  elan.  And  one  Muinttr  sometimes  fought 
against  another  ;  while  priests,  even  after  they  were  released  from  compulsory 
attendance  in  hostings,  still  occasionally  joined  in  the  fray. 

1^  The  issue  of  disputes  of  this  kind  was  not  always  so  satisfactory.  Witness 
the  following  (Four  Masters,  1043)  : — "  The  fasting  of  the  clergy  of  Ciaran  at 
Tealach-Garbha  (Tullangarvey)  against  Aedh  Ua  Comfeaela,  lord  of  TefEa,  and 
Bearnain  Ciaran  (Ciaran's  gapped  bell)  was  rung  with  the  end  of  the  Bachall  Isa 
against  him  ;  and  in  the  place  where  Aedh  turned  his  back  on  the  clergy,  in  that 
very  place  he  was  beheaded  before  the  end  of  the  month  by  Muirchertach  V& 
Maelsoachlaiiin." 


C    267     } 


CHAPTER  XVIII. 

THE   NORTHMEN. 

THE  expulsion  of  St.  Carthach  ^  from  Rahan  took  place  in  the 
rei^n  of  Domhnall,  son  of  Aedh,  sou  of  Ainmire,  by  whom 
was  fought  (637)  a  famous  battle  at  a  place  called  Magh 
Rath  in  the  county  of  Down,  which,  if  not  the  place  now 
called  Moira  in  the  north-east  of  the  county,  was  somewhere  in 
the  vicinity  of  Newry.  Suibhne  Meann,  Domhnall's  prede- 
cessor and  kinsman,  had  been  slain  by  Congal,  and  Domhnall, 
shortly  after  his  accession,  attacked  Congal,  defeated  him,  and 
compelled  him  to  take  refuge  with  his  uncle  in  Alba.^  After 
the  lapse  of  seven  years  Congal  returned  with  an  army  of 
Britons,  Saxons,  Gail-Gael,  and  Pictsfrom  Scotland  and  landed 
in  Down  to  fight  for  Little  Ulster  and,  if  fortune  favoured  him, 
for  Greater  Ulster  also,  for  he  was  descended  from  Conal 
Cearnach,  the  renowned  champion  of  the  Red  Branch  Knights, 
and  claimed  to  be  entitled  to  the  whole  territory  ruled  over  by 
Conchobar  Mac  Nessa.  In  the  poem  which  begins  with  the 
lines  "  How  bravely  Congal's  host  comes  on,"  and  which  is 
given  in  full  in  a  historical  romance  on  the  battle  and  quoted 
by  Keating,  we  are  told  : — 

A  yellow  lion  upon  green  satin, 

The  standard  of  the  Red  Branch  Knights, 

As  borne  by  the  noble  Conchobar, 

Is  now  by  Congal  borne  aloft.^ 

This  was  the  ancient  flag  of  Ulster  and  of  Erin  when  the 
Clanna  Rury  were  predominant  and  ruled  at  Tara.  It  has 
been  superseded  in  modern  times  by  the  harp.  The  lion  is 
now  claimed  by  England,  but  the  animals  depicted  in  the 
English  escutcheon  are  said  by  many  to  be  leopards.     The 

*  The  original  name  is  said  to  have  been  "  Cuda,"  and  "  Mo  "  was  prefixed 
for  respect,  hence  Mochuda.    He  was,  it  is  said,  called  Carthach  after  his  master. 

'  Reevts'  Adamnan,  200. 

•  "  Cath  Muiglie  Rath,"  S'29. 


268  EARLY   IRISH   HISTORY. 

lion  would  appear,  in  any  case,  to  belong  by  priority  of  use  to 
the  men  of  Erin.  The  fortune  of  war,  however,  went  against 
Congal.  After  an  obstinate  struggle,  which  the  bardic  accounts 
say  lasted  six  days,  Congal  and  his  allies  were  routed  with  red 
slaughter,  and  Congal  himself  fell  in  the  "  counter-blow  of  the 
fight." 

In  the  interval  which  elapsed  between  the  battle  of  Magh 
Rath  (637)  and  795,  when  the  Norsemen  first  appeared,  there 
were  the  usual  wars  between  chieftains  and  kings,  which 
occurred  in  every  community  where  there  was  no  strong  central 
authority.  We  shall  not  weary  our  readers  with  an  enumera- 
tion of  them.  Their  monotonous  futility  has  little  interest 
for  the  historian. 

The  Scandinavian  invasion,  if  it  can  be  properly  so  called, 
may  be  conveniently  divided  into  two  periods— (1)  from  795 
to  the  coming  of  the  Dubh-  Gaill  and  of  Olaf  the  White  in  845, 
and  (2)  from  845  to  the  battle  of  Clontarf  in  1014.  During 
the  first  period,  as  in  France  and  Britain,  the  invasion  took 
the  form  of  raids  for  plunder  by  separate  bands,  and  often 
simultaneously  at  distant  points.  These  raids  seldom  went 
far  inland,  and  did  not  interfere  materially  with  the  internal 
warfare,  which  proceeded  with  much  vigour,  as  usual,  between 
the  native  chieftains.  In  order  to  show  more  clearly  the  true 
nature  of  the  invasion  of  the  Northmen  we  deem  it  necessar}' 
to  summarise  in  considerable  detail  the  account  of  their  raids 
as  we  find  them  recorded  in  our  Annals.  Our  readers  may, 
perhaps,  find  these  particulars  wearisome,  but  there  is  no  royal 
road  to  truth  in  the  matter 

In  795  Rathlin  or  Lambay  was  raided ;  in  793  Inuis  Patrick, 
i.e.,  Holm  Peel,  Isle  of  Man  ;  in  807  Innishmurray,  off  Sligo, 
and  part  of  Roscommon ;  in  803  and  806  lona,  when  twenty-six 
monks  were  slain ;  in  812  Connemara,  when  the  Northmen 
were  defeated  in  Mayo  ;  in  813  Mayo,  when  they  defeated 
the  men  of  Mayo ;  in  819  Howth,  and  the  islands  at  the 
mouth  of  Wexford  Harbour  ;  in  820  Cork  and  Cape  Clear  ;  in 
821  Bangor ;  in  822  Downpatrick,  the  invaders  defeated  the 
"  Osraige,"  but  were  defeated  by  the  Ulidians  in  the  same  year  ; 
in  823  the  hermit,  Etgal,  was  carried  off  from  Skelig  Michil^ 
and  died  from  hunger  and  thirst ;  in  824  Lusk  and  Meath  ;  in 
825  Dun  Lagen,  near  Glendalough ;  in  826  Wexford ;  in  828 
Duuleer  and   Clonmore  in   Louth;    in   831   Muirtheimne,  in 


THE  NORTHMEN.  2G9 

Louth,  and  Maelbrighte,  the  King,  taken  captive  with  his 
brother,  and  carried  off  to  the  ships.  A  battle  was  gained  over 
the  "  Muintir  "  of  Armagh,  and  a  great  number  of  them  taken 
captive.  In  831  took  place  the  first  plundering  of  Armagh, 
thrice  in  one  month.  The  Ui-Meith  Macha,  Mucknce,  Donagh- 
moyne,  and  other  churches  in  Monaghan  and  Louth,  Maghera 
in  Derry,  and  Connor  in  Antrim,  were  raided.  In  832,  the 
first  year  of  Niall  Caille,  a  great  slaughter  was  made  of  the 
foreigners  at  Derry ;  Clondalkin  was  plundered  by  the  foreigners 
Lismore  was  burned,  Dromeskin  (Louth),  Loughbrickland 
(Down)  were  raided.  Separate  bands  of  raiders  must  have  been 
at  work.* 

In  833  the  foreigners  were  defeated  in  Coshma  (Limerick) 
by  the  Ui  Fidhgeinte.  Glendaloch,  Slane,  and  Fennor  were 
raided,  and  the  greater  part  of  Clonmacnoise  was  burned.  In 
844  Ferns  and  Clonmore  were  raided.  Mungret,  near  Limerick, 
and  other  churches,  were  burned.  In  835,  Kildare,  Louth, 
Bregia  (N.  Dublin)  and  Durrow  were  plundered.  In  836  there 
was  most  cruel  devastation  of  Connact,  and  a  battle-slaughter 
of  the  Dsisi.  In  837  there  were  sixty  ships  on  the  Boyne, 
sixty  on  the  LifFey,  and  these  fleets  plundered  and  spoiled  the 
plain  of  the  LifFey  and  East  Meath,  "  both  churches  and  habi- 
tations of  men,  and  goodly  tribes  of  flocks  and  herds."  A  battle 
was  gained  at  Inver-na-mbarc,  near  Bray,  over  the  Southern 
Ui  Neill  from  the  Shannon  to  the  sea,  "  where  such  slaughter 
was  made  as  never  was  heard  of."  However,  the  kings  and 
chieftains  escaped.  The  churches  of  L.  Erne,  Clones,  Devenish, 
Freshford,  Kilkenny,  Inis  Caltra,  Ballylongford  (Kerry),  and 
Bealach  Abhra  (Cork)  were  destroyed.  A  slaughter  was  made 
of  the  foreigners  at  Eas  Ruadh,  at  Carn  Feradaigh  (Limerick)^ 
and  at  Fearta  Fear  Feig,  on  the  Boyne.  In  this  year 
was  the  first  taking  of  Ath  Cliath  by  the  foreigners.  A 
battle  was  gained  over  the  Connacht  men.  838 — A  fleet 
on  L.  Neaofh.  The  territories  and  churches  of  the  North  of 
Ireland  were  plundered,  and  Cork  and  Ferns  burned.  839 — The 
burning  of  Armagh,  with  its  oratories  and  cathedral.  The 
plundering   of    Louth   by   the    foreigners  of    Lough  Neagh ; 

*  SS^ — A  great  number  of  the  "muintir"  of  Clonmacnoise  were  slain  by 
Foidlimid,  King  of  Cashel,  and  all  thsir  termon  burned  to  the  doors  of  the  church. 
In  like  manner  the  "  muintir"  of  Durrow  also  to  the  doors  of  the  church. — F.M. 
A  battle  gained  over  the  "muintir"  of  Kildare  in  their  church  by  Cellach,  King 
of  Leinster,  wLen  many  were  slain  — Ann.  Ulst. 


270  EARLY   IRISH   HISTORY. 

and  they  made  prisoners  of  many  bishops,  and  wise  and 
learned  men,  and  carried  them  to  their  fortress,  after  having, 
moreover,  slain  many  others.  840 — A  fortress  was  made  by 
the  foreigners  at  Linn  Duachaill,  out  of  which  the  territories 
and  churches  of  Teffia  were  preyed.  Another  fortress  was  made 
by  them  at  Dublin,  out  of  which  they  plundered  Leinster  and  the 
Ui  Neill  (South)  as  far  as  Slieve  Bloom.  841 — The  killino;  and 
burning  of  the  Abbot  of  Linn  Duachaill.'^  A  fleet  of  Norsemen 
on  the  Boyne  at  Rosnaree,  another  on  Lough  S  willy,  and  a 
third  at  Magheralin.  Clonmacnoise,  Castledermot,  Birr  and 
Seirkieran  were  plundered.  842 — Clonfert  was  burned.  843 — 
Cluana-an-dobhair,  near  Killeigh,  in  the  King's  County,  and 
Dunmask  were  plundered.  Nuadhat  and  the  Abbot  of  Tir-da. 
Glas  were  martyred,  and  Forannan,  the  Primate  of  Armagh,  was 
captured,  with  his  relics  and  Muintir,  and  taken  to  Limerick 
to  their  ships.  Here  comes  the  first  mention  of  Turgesius  in 
the  Annals  (843  F.M.,  recte  845).  An  expedition  by  Turgeis, 
lord  of  the  foreigners,  upon  Lough  Ribh,  so  that  they  plun- 
dered Connact  and  Meath,  and  burned  Cluain-mic-Nois,  with 
its  oratories,  Cluain  Fearta  Erennain,  and  Tir-da-Glas,  Lothra 
and  many  others  in  like  manner.  A  battle  was  gained  over 
the  foreigners  by  King  Niall,  the  son  of  ^Edh,  in  Magh  Itha, 
and  a  countless  number  fell.  Turgeis  was  taken  prisoner  by 
Maelseachlainn  "  and  his  drowning  afterwards  in  L.  Uair 
(L.  Owel),  through  the  miracles  of  God,  and  Kiaran,  and  the 
saints  in  general."®  St.  Kiaran's  special  anger  is  accounted 
for  by  the  fact  that  Ota,  the  wife  of  Turgesius,  took  her  seat, 
wo  are  told,  on  the  high  altar  in  the  church  at  Clonmacnoise, 
and  gave  audience  and  answer  from  it. 

We  think  that  the  inference  to  be  drawn  from  the  entries  we 
have  given  (perhaps  at  too  great  length)  is  that  up  to  845  A.D., 
the  period  we  are  now  dealing  with,  no  Scandinavian  kingdom 
was  established  in  Erin,  and  that  the  supposed  sovereignty  cf 
Turgesius  over  the  Gael  for  thirty  years,  as  Giraldus  states,  or 
for  fifteen  years,  as  Todd  and  O'Mahony  suggest,  or  for  seven 

*  Linn  Duachail,  at  the  tidal  opening  of  the  Rivers  Glyde  and  Dee,  in  Louth, 
S.E.  of  Castle  Bellingham. — Todd,  ^ars  of  the  Gad  and  Gall,  Ixii. 

^  The  Annals  of  Ulster  and  the  Four  Masters  do  not  state  that  Turgeis 
was  drowned  by  Maelseachlainn,  which  was  the  form  generally  used  by  them 
when  the  drowning  was  punitive  or  criminal.  The  words  seem  to  point 
rather  to  a  drowning  by  the  miracles  of  the  saints.  Macgeoghan  states  that 
Turgeis  was  drowned  by  Maelseachlainn. 


THE  NORTHMEN-.  271 

years  as  Berchan  prophesied,  is  unsupported  by  trustworthy 
evidence,  and  is  part  of  the  historical  romance  connected  with 
the  tyrant  Turgesius. 

Todd  was  greatly  influenced  in  the  view  he  took  of  the 
reign  of  Turgesius  by  the  statement  in  the  War  of  the  Gael 
with  the  Gaill.  The  author  of  that  work  states  that  Turgesius 
came  with  a  great  royal  fleet  into  the  North  of  Ireland,  and 
assumed  the  sovereignty  of  the  foreigners,  and  occupied  the 
whole  of  Leath  Chuinn,  and  "  usurped  the  Abbacy  of  Armagh, 
and  was  in  the  sovereignty  of  the  North  of  Ireland."  Todd 
fixes  the  date  at  831  or  832,  and  infers  that  the  duration  of 
the  tyranny  of  Turgesius  cannot  have  been  more  than  about 
thirteen  years.  He  observes,  "  for  nine  years  after  his  coming 
he  seems  to  have  been  content  with  his  secular  possession  of 
the  country,  or  unable  to  overthrow  the  power  of  the  ecclesi- 
astical  authorities.  It  was  not  until  841  that  he  succeeded  in 
banishing  the  bishop  and  clergy,  and  usurped  the  abbacy,  that 
is  to  say,  the  full  authority  and  jurisdiction  in  Armagh  and 
the  North  of  Ireland."  Even  if  this  account  was  reliable  it 
would  fall  very  far  short  of  proving  that  Turgesius  was  Ard 
High  over  all  Erin,  or  had  reduced  it  to  subjection.  The  only 
evidence  we  can  find  supporting  such  a  view  before  Giraldus 
are  the  prophecies. 

Berchan,  the  chief  prophet  of  heaven  and  earth,  said  : — 

Seven  years  shall  they  be — not  weak  their  power 

In  the  High  Kingship  of  Erin, 

In  the  abbacy  of  every  church, 

The  Heathen  of  the  Port  of  Dublin, 

There  shall  be  an  abbot  of  them  over  this  my  Church  ; 

He  shall  not  attend  to  Matins, 

Without  Pater,  without  Credo, 

Without  Gaelic ;  only  a  foreign  tongue. 

And  Beg  Mac  De  : — 

When  the  bell  was  rung  at  Warm  Tailten, 
Ciaran,  the  rich  old  man  of  Saighir, 
Promised  to  Erin  three  times 
Parties  of  Danes  of  the  black  ships  (-outi  lonsfi/. 

These  prophecies  and  the  legends  connected  with  them  pro- 
bably reached  the  ears  of  Giraldus,  who  is  the  first  prose  writer 
who  speaks  of  the  conquest  and  subjugation  of  the  whole  country. 

'  Todd,  Wars  of  the  Gad,  10  and  225. 


272  EARLY   IRISH   HISTORY. 

He  tells  us  that  in  the  time  of  Feidlimidh,  the  Norwegians 
came  to  Erin  with  a  great  fleet,  took  possession  with  the 
strong  hand  and  destroyed  the  churches,  and  that  Turgesius, 
their  leader,  having  subdued  the  country  in  a  short  time,  and 
making  a  circuit  through  it,  "  incastellated "  it  in  suitable 
places  in  every  direction.  "  So  you  may  see,"  he  continues, 
"  in  every  direction,  earth  works  with  deep  ditches,  very  lofty 
and  circular,  and  often  triple.  There  are  also  walled  castles 
still  perfect,  but  ancient  and  deserted,  remaining  from  these 
ancient  times,  to  be  seen  to  the  present  day.  The  Irish  do  not 
care  about  castles.  The  wood  is  their  castle  and  the  marsh 
their  ditch.  Turgesius  then  ruled  Ireland  peaceably  for  a  time 
(thirty  years)  until  he  fell  by  their  stratagem  of  the  maidens,"^ 
The  maidens'  stratagem  is  evidently,  as  Todd  points  out,  an 
imitation  of  Hengist's  treacherous  banquet  to  Vortigern,  as 
described  by  Nennius  [c.  47).     It  runs  thus  :  — 

Turgesius  was  a  successful  suitor  for  the  hand  of  Maelseachlainn's 
daughter,  and  went  to  take  home  his  bride,  accompanied  by  fifteen 
youths.  She  went  to  meet  her  lord,  accompanied  also  by  fifteen  youths 
disguised  as  maidens  and  armed  with  daggers,  who  fell  upon  and  slew 
Turgesius  and  his  companions.^ 

Giraldus  was  manifestly  referring  to  the  Danish  forts,  as 
the  peasantry  call  them,  and  Staigue  Fort  and  the  great 
mounds  and  work  at  Brugh  na  Boinne.  It  is  on  the  popular 
legends  about  these  and  the  story  in  Nennius  that  he  built  his 
narrative. 

Keating  follows  Giraldus,  and  tells  us  :— 

Turgesius,  the  Norse  tyrant,  with  his  armies  of  the  men  of  Fiun- 
Lochlainn,held  supreme  power  in  Erin  for  thirteen  years  after  he  had  been 
previously  the  scourge  of  that  country  for  seventeen  years,  for  during 
that  length  of  time  he  had  been  exercising  violence  and  rapine  on  the 
inhabitants.  But  when  the  nobles  of  Erin  saw  that  Turgesius  had 
brought  confusion  on  their  country,  and  that  he  was  assuming  supreme 
authority,  and  reducing  them  to  thraldom  and  vassalage,  they  became 
inspired  with  a  loftiness  of  mind  and  fortitude  of  spirit  and  a  hardness 
and  firmness  of  purpose  that  urged  them  to  work  on  right  earnestly  and  to 
toil  zealously  against  him  and  his  plundering  hordes.  But  though  numerous 
were  the  battles  the  Gael  fought  against  Turgesius  he  at  length  suc- 
ceeded in  vanquishing  the  Gaelic  nation,  and  reduced  it  to  bondage  and 
serfdom  to  himself  and  to  his  almuraigh  (foreigners).^" 

8  Giraldus,  Roll  Series,  v.  182. 

9  Tudd,  Wars  of  the  Gad,  xliv. 
i«  Keating,  O'Mahony,  505. 


THE   NORTHMEN.  273 

At  the  commencement  of  the  second  period  (845-1014)  the 
entries  in  our  Annals  relating  to  the  coming  of  the  Black 
foreigners  (Dubh-Gaill)  may  be  summarised  as  follows  : — 

In  847  a  fleet  of  seven  score  ships  of  the  king  of  the 
foreigners  came  to  contend  with  the  foreigners  in  Erin 
before  them.  The  new  foreigners  were  henceforth  commonly 
called  the  Dubh-Gaill,  or  black  foreigners,  and  the  old  foreigners 
were  called  Finn-Gaill,  or  fair  foreigners.  In  849  the  Dubh-Gaill 
arrived  at  Athcliath,  and  made  a  great  slaughter  of  the  Finn-Gaill,  who 
had  settled  there.  They  made  another  attack  on  the  Finn-Gaill  at  Linn 
Diiachaill,  and  made  a  great  slaughter  of  them  there.  In  851  a  fleet  of 
eight  score  ships  of  Finn-Gaill  arrived  at  Snam-Eidhneach  (i.e.,  Carling- 
ford  Lough)  to  give  battle  to  the  Dubh-Gaill,  and  they  fought  with 
each  other  for  three  days  and  three  nights,  and  the  Dubh-Gaill  were 
victorious.  The  Finn-Gaill  left  their  ships  to  them.  In  852  came  Olaf,  son 
of  the  King  of  Lochlanu,  and  all  the  foreign  tribes  in  Erin  submitted  to 
him,  and  a  rent  (ciof)  was  given  to  him  by  the  Gael.^i 

Now,  who  were  the  New  Foreigners  ?  Where  was  Lochlann  ? 
Dubhgaill,  black  foreigners,  cannot  mean  people  of  the  dark  or 
brunette  type.  Whether  they  came  from  Scandinavia  or  Den- 
mark, the  overwhelming  mass  of  the  raiders  must  have  been 
blonde  or  fair.  "  At  the  northern  limit  (which  includes  Scan- 
dinavia and  Denmark),"  writes  Ripley,  "  we  find  that  about  one- 
third  of  the  people  are  pure  blondes,  characterised  by  light  hair 
and  blue  eyes,  about  one-tenth  are  pure  brunettes,  the  re- 
mainder, over  one  half,  being  mixed,  with  a  tendency  to  blond- 
ness.  There  is  no  appreciable  difference  between  Scandinavia 
and  Denmark  as  regards  pigmentation,  and  dark  types  do  not 
chang-e  to  blonde. 


o^ 


We  can  scarcely  distinguish  a  Swede  from  a  Dane  to-day,  or  either 
from   a   native   of   Schleswig   Holstein   or   Friesland.     They   are    all 

"  In  the  Landnamaboc,  or  Book  of  Settlements  in  Iceland,  we  iKndf  the  tUIow- 
inCT  statement  about  Olaf,  the  White,  who  was,  undoubtedly,  the  Oalf  who  came 
to  Erin  in  853,  ten  [years  before  the  death  of  Maelseachlainn  : — "  Anlalf,  the  White 
(Oleif  ?)  was  the  name  of  a  host-king  He  was  the  son  of  King  Ingiidd  ,the  son  of 
Helgi,  the  son  of  Helge,  the  son  of  Aniaf  (Oleif's  Sonar),  the  son  of  Godfred,  the 
son  of  Halfdan,  Whiteleg,  the  King  of  the  Upland  (E.  Norway)  folk.  Anlaff,  the 
White,  harried  in  the  West  in  wrecking  cruises,  and  won  Dyflin  (Dublin)  and 
Dublin  shire — (Dyflin  shire) — and  made  himself  kint)  over  it.  Ho  took  to  wife  Aud, 
or  Ead,  the  Deep  Wealthy,  the  daughter  of  Cetilflatneh,  the  son  of  Beorn  Buna, 
lord  of  Norway.  Thor-slan,  the  Red,  was  the  name  of  their  son.  Anlafif  fell  in 
Ireland  (fell  a  Irlande)  in  battle,  but  Aud  and  Thor-slan  went  to  thc^  Houthreys 
(Hebrides). — Ve^jfusson,  Ori^ines  Islaiidicce,  Landnambok,  11-14,  Vol.  I.,  7t3, 
•  1805.) 

T 


274  EARLY  IRISH  HISTORr. 

described  to  us  by  chroniclers,  and  our  modern  research  corroborates 
the  testimony^  as  tawny-haired,  fiercely  blue-eyed  barbarians."  ^* 

It  seems  probable,  we  think,  that  they  were  different  tribes, 
nominally  at  least  subject  to  the  King  of  Lochlann.  We  can 
thus  more  easily  understand  their  ready  submission  to  Olaf 
Beg  MacDe  says,  as  we  have  seen,  that  they  had  black  ships.^^ 
"  One  of  the  captains  was  a  red-haired  maiden."  Saxo-gram- 
maticus  tells  us  they  used  black  tents  for  concealment.^*  And 
they  probably  wore  black  armour  of  some  kind.  Glun-iarrainn, 
iron-knee,  and  Glun-dubh,  black-knee,  seem  to  refer  to  some 
black  iron  defensive  armour,  and  so,  probably,  were  called  the 
"  Black  Foreigners.'' 

This  shire  land,  over  which  Olaf  made  himself  king,  was, 
no  doubt,  in  part  at  least,  what  in  after  time  came  to  be 
known  as  Fingal.  It  extended  as  far  north  as  the  Delvin 
rivulet,  a  little  south  of  the  Nannie  water,  and  inland,  in  theory 
at  least,  as  far  as  the  salmon  swam  up,  in  accordance  with 
Norse  law — i.e.,  to  the  Salmon  Leap,  Lixlot,  now  Leixlip.  The 
rent  of  this  portion  Olaf  no  doubt  received,  and  this  is  probably 
what  is  meant  by  our  annalists.  He  most  assuredly  did  not  get 
rent  from  the  High  King,  or  the  provincial  Kings  of  Erin. 
There  never  was  a  conquest  and  occupationof  a  large  part  of  Erin 
like  the  Danish  occupation  of  England.  Besides  Dublin  and 
Dublin-shire,  they  built  and  held  forts,  with  some  territory 
adjoining,  at  Limerick,  Cork,  and  Waterford,  and  occupied  some 
places  along  the  coast.  Elsewhere  there  was  no  permanent 
occupation. 

The  Gaelic  name  of  the  place  where  now  is  Dublin  was  Ath 
Cliath — the  Ford  with  the  Hurdle  Bridge.  The  Scandinavians 
called  it  "  Dyflin,"  a  corruption  of  the  Gaelic  name  for  that 
inlet  at  the  confluence  of  the  Poddle  and  the  Liffey  which 
formed  a  harbour  where  ships  were  moored,  and  which  the  Gael 
called  "  Dubhlinn,"  or  black  pool,  from  the  dark  colour  given 
to  the  water  by  the  bog  which  extends  under  the  river.^^ 

1-  Ripley,  W.,  Races  of  Europe  I.,  68  and  314. 

Looh  in  Gaelic  frequently  means  fiords,  or  arms  of  the  sea,  e.g.,  Foyle, 
Swilly,  Belfast,  Carmen,  (Wexford),  Lurgan  (Galway).  Whatever  may  be  the 
true  meaning  of  Vikinr/,  it  is  highly  probable  the  Gael  understood  it  to  mean  the 
men  of  the  Fiords — Lochlannach. 

"  War  of  the  Gael,  p.  225  and  41. 

^*For  the  tents  were  dusky  in  colour  and  mufflad  in  a  sort  of  pitchy  covering 
that  they  might  not  catch  the  eye  of  auyoae  who  came  near*  Saxorammaticus, 
V,  167.     The  captain  was  the  famous  Ingen  Uua-o. 

^^  Haliday. — The  Scandinavian  Kini/dom  of  Dublin,  23, 


THE   NORTHMEN.  275 

The  termination  of  the  names  of  three  of  the  provinces  is  Norse, 
the  Norse,  "ster"  (  =  stadr,  place)  being  added  to  theGaelic  name* 
as  Murahan-ster,  Munster;  Ulad-ster,  Ulster;  Leighin-ster, 
Leinster ;  Connact-ster  (Kunnakster,  Connact)  was  not  retained 
liy  the  Anglo-Normans,  or  Angevins.  But  these  names  were 
never  used  by  the  Gael  when  speaking  their  own  tongue,  and 
it  must  not  be  supposed  that  they  indicate  conquest  or  occupa- 
tion of  these  provinces  by  the  Northmen. 

Feordr  is  a  frith  or  bay,  while  a.  small  crescent-formed 
inlet  is  called  a  vik.  There  were  five  Norse  fiord  names 
in  Erin — Wexford,  (L.  Carmen)  Waterford,  (L.  Dacaich,  or  Port 
Lairge),  Carlingford  (Snamh  Eidhneach),Strangford  (L.  Cuan), 
and  Ulrick's  fiord  (L.  Larne).  "  There  are,"  writes  Joyce,  "  little 
more  than  a  dozen  places  in  Ireland  at  the  present  day  bearing 
Danish  names,  and  these  are  nearly  all  on  or  near  the  East  coast 
Worsae  (p.  71)  gives  a  table  of  1,373  Danish  and  Norwegian 
names  in  the  middle  and  northern  counties  of  England."  He 
adds,  "  This  appears  to  me  to  afford  a  complete  answer  to  the 
statement  that  we  sometimes  see  made — that  the  Danes 
conquered  the  country,  and  that  their  chiefs  ruled  over  it  as 
sovereigns." 

After  the  coming  of  Olaf,  from  853  to  875,  there  were  the 
usual  periodical  raids  and  plunderings  such  as  we  have 
described.  After  this  came  what  are  known  as  the  forty  years' 
rest,  during  which  time  there  came  no  fresh  reinforcements 
from  the  north.  The  Norsemen  in  Erin  during  this  time  raided 
and  made  hostings  like  the  native  chieftains,  won  and  lost 
battles,  but  made  no  additions  to  their  territory.  They  appear 
to  have  been  gradually  taking  their  place  among  the  tribes  of 
the  Gael,  and  there  were  alliances  and  intermarriages  from  time 
to  time  between  them.  During  all  this  time  the  High  King 
exercised  his  sovereign  rights  as  usual — enforced  the  payments 
of  rent  or  tribute  and  exacted  the  delivery  of  hostages,  as  the 
following  summary  will  clearly  show : — 

In  802  Aodh  Oirnidhe,  Ard-Righ,  went  with  a  large  army 
into  Meath  and  divided  it  into  two  parts  between  the  sons  of 
Domhnall,  viz.,  Conchobar  and  Ailill.  They  were  the  sons  of 
the  last  Ard-Righ.  Ailill  was  slain  in  battle  by  Conchobar  the 
following  year. 

In  805  he  divided  Leinster  between  the  two  Muiredachs. 

839 — The  plundering  of  Feara  Ceal  and  Dealbhna-Eathra  (a 


276  EARLY   IRISH   HISTORY. 

large  part  of  the  King's  County)  by  Kiall  Caille,  the  High 
King.  Feidlimidh,  King  of  Munster,  plundered  Meath  and 
Breagh,  and  he  rested  at  Tara  after  having  in  one  day  taken 
the  hostages  of  Connact. 

840 — An  army  was  led  by  Feidlimidh  to  Carman  (Wex- 
ford) and  by  Niall  Caille  to  Maghochtar  (N.  Kildare)  to  meet 
him.  A  battle  ensued,  and  Niall  "  bore  away  the  crozier  of 
the  devout  Feidlimidh  by  the  battle  of  swords."  Feidlimidh 
was  abbot  or  bishop  of  Cashel  according  to  O'Donovan.  The 
same  year  a  battle  was  gained  by  Maelruanaedh,  the  father  of 
King  Maelseachlainn,  over  Diarmaid,  son  of  Conchobar,  and 
Diarmaid  was  slain. 

844 — The  plundering  of  Donnchadh,  son  of  Follamhan,  and 
of  Flann,  son  of  Maelruanaedh,  by  Maelseachlainn,  son  of 
Maelruanaidh.  The  plundering  of  the  Termon  of  Ciaran  {i.e., 
Clonmacnoise)  by  Feidlimidh,  King  of  Munster ;  but  Ciaran 
pursued  him,  as  he  thought,  and  gave  him  a  thrust  of  his 
crozier,  and  he  received  an  internal  wound,  so  that  he  was  not 
well  until  his  death.  He  died  in  845.  The  annalists  {F.  M. 
and  Ulst.)  add,  to  our  amazement,  that  he  was  the  best  scribe 
and  anchorite  of  his  time.  Does  the  word  "anchorite,"  taken 
in  connection  with  his  crozier,  imply  that  the  devout  Feid- 
limidh was  a  bishop  in  Orders,  as  distinguished  from  a 
secular  bishop  (if  we  may  use  the  phrase),  claiming  to  be  bishop 
or  abbot  in  right  of  his  crown  of  Munster  without  ecclesiastical 
status  ?  18 

852 — Maelseachlainn  proceeded  to  Munster  as  far  as  Ineoin 
na  n-deisi  (near  Clonmel),  and  enforced  hostages  and  submis- 
sion from  them,  for  they  had  given  him  opposition  at  the 
instigation  of  the  foreigners. 

854 — He  went  again  to  Cashel  and  carried  off  the  hostages 
of  Munster. 

857 — He  went  into  Munster  and  stayed  ten  nights  at  Neim 
(the  Black  water)  and  plundered  it  southwards  to  the  sea  after 
defeating  their  kings  at  Carn  Lugh-dach.  He  carried  off 
their  hostages  from  Gowra  Road  to  the  Bull  of  Dursey  Island 
and  from  the  Old  Head  of  Kinsale  to  East  Arra  of  the  Arran 
Isles. 

'8  F.  M.  840  A.D.— "  The  reader  must  bear  in  mind  that  FoidlimiJh  was 
alibot  or  bishop  of  Cashel  in  right  of  his  crown  of  Mauster."  We  doubt  this. 
Maegeoghan  writes  of  "  hia  great  irregularity  and  great  desire  of  spoyle." 


THE  NORTHME^.  277 

858 — He  led  a  hosting  of  Munster,  Leinster,  and  Connact 
and  the  Southern  Ui  Neill,  into  the  North.  Aedh  Finnliath 
attacked  his  camp  at  night,  and  destroyed  many  in  the  middle 
of  the  camp,  but  was  finally  defeated,  with  great  loss,  for 
Maelseachlainn  and  his  army  manfully  defended  the  camp 
against  the  people  of  the  North,  Aedh  then  formed  a  league 
with  the  foreigners.  This  was  not,  however,  the  first  occasion 
on  which  the  Gael  made  alliance  with  them.  As  far  back 
as  849  Cinaedh,  King  of  Cianachta  Breagh,  turned  against 
Maelseachlainn  at  the  instigation  of  the  foreigners,  so  that  he 
wasted  the  Ui  Neill,  both  churches  and  districts,  from  the 
Shannon  to  the  sea.  The  following  year  he  was  drowned  in 
the  Nanny,  which  flows  through  Ceannacta  Breagh,  by  Mael- 
seachlainn and  Tighernach,  with  the  approval  of  the  good 
men  of  Erin,  and  of  the  coarb  of  St.  Patrick  especially,  Aedh 
Finnliath  then  rose  out  against  Maelseachlainn  at  the  instiga- 
tion of  Cinaedh's  brother  and  successor  in  the  chieftainry. 

859 — There  was  a  great  hosting  by  Olaf  and  Ivar  and 
Cerbhall,  King  of  Ossory,  who  was  then  in  alliance  with  them 
into  Meath.  Maelseachlainn  then  held  a  royal  meeting  at 
Rahugh,  in  Westmeath,  and  the  coarbs  of  Patrick  and  Finnian 
used  their  influence  to  establish  peace  and  concord  between 
the  men  of  Erin.  Cearbhall  joined  Leth  Chuinn,  and  Mael- 
gualach  tendered  his  allegiance  and  was  stoned  to  death  by 
the  foreigners. 

860 — Aedh  Finnliath  and  Flann,  son  of  Conang  and  Olaf 
and  the  foreigners,  raided  Meath,  and  Cearbhall,  King  of 
Ossory,  came  to  the  aid  of  the  High  King. 

In  the  fo]lowin<T  year,  861,  when,  he  had  become  High  King,  the 
foreigners,  rifled  New  Grange,  Knowth,  Dowth,  and  the  Great  Mound 
at  Drogheda.  Lorcan,  King  of  Meath,  was  with  them  thereat,  and  waa 
blinded  by  Aedh  the  following  year.^^ 

The  reign  of  this  Cearbhall,  as  King  of  the  Norsemen  of 
&.thcliath,  is  not  mentioned  in  our  annals,  but  Todd  and 
Haliday  are  of  opinion  that  the  reconciliation  we  mentioned 
was  only  temporary,  and  that  there  is  good  evidence  that 
either  in  alliance  with,  or  elected  by,  the  Norse  of  Dublin,  he 
became  King  there  about  872,  and  reigned  until  888.  His 
death  in  that  year  seems  to  have  inspired  the  Gael  with  the 

"  Tltrtt  Frag,  161. 


275  EARLY  IRISH   HISTORY. 

hope  of  obtaining  possession  of  Ath  Cliath  by  the  expulsion  of 
the  Northmen.  Flann,  the  High  King,  joining  his  forces  to 
those  of  the  King  of  Connact  and  aided  by  the  ecclesiastical 
authorities,  attacked  them,  but  was  routed  in  a  battle  in  which 
fell  the  King  of  Connact,  the  bishop  of  Kildare,  the  abbot  of 
Killdalkey,  and  many  others.  ^^ 

^'  Many  of  the  learned  in  Erin  composed  praise  poems  on  Cearbhall,  the  King 
of  Ossory,  in  which  they  commemorated  every  victory  he  had  won,  and  Aeugus, 
the  high,  wise  abbot,  the  Coarb  of  Clonfert  Molua  (Kyle),  at  the  foot  of  Slieve 
Bloom,  most  of  all.  O'Donovan  observes  that  it  is  highly  probable  that  the 
accounts  which  were  so  laudatory  of  the  King  of  Ossory  were  based  on  these 
poems,  which  were  preserved  in  the  monastery  there. 

In  the  Landnama-boc  we  find  the  following  reference  to  Cearbhall  (Carroll) : 

"  Afterwards  Eg-wind  (Eg-wind-e)  took  to  wife  in  Ireland  Raforta  ( ),  the 

daughter  of  Cear-ral.  She  gave  birth  to  a  boy  in  the  Southreys  (Hebrides,  Sodor), 
and  put  him  to  fosterage  there.  Two  winters  later  they  went  back  to  the  island 
(Sodor)  to  see  the  boy,  and  saw  a  boy  there  with  fair  eyes,  but  there  was  no  flesh 
on  him,  for  he  was  starved,  and  so  they  called  the  boy  Helge,  the  Lean.  He  was 
afterwards  put  into  fosterage  in  Ireland.  Eg-wind  was  called  the  Ostman,  or 
Eastman,  because  he  came  west  over  the  sea  out  of  Sweden  in  th6  east.  Helge 
was  brought  up  in  Ireland."  And  also,  "  at  the  time  Iceland  was  settled  from 
Norway,  Adrianus  was  Pope  of  Rome  .  .  .  Cearrall  (Cearbhall)  King  at 
Dublin."  "  Before  Iceland  was  settled  by  the  Northmen,  there  were  there  those 
people  whom  the  Northmen  called  Papas.  They  were  Christian  men,  and  people 
think  that  they  must  have  been  from  the  West  of  the  Sea  because  there  were 
found  after  them  Irish  books  and  bells  and  croziers  (baglar),  and  yet  more  things 
by  which  it  might  be  perceived  that  they  were  West  men." — Are's  (f  1148), 
Landnama  boc,  Vegfusson,  ubi.  tup.,  13,  H  and  145. 


1 


t    279    ] 


CHAPTER   XIX 


A  WINTER  CIRCUIT. 


BEFORE  we  reach  the  period  of  the  forty  years'  rest  (875- 
915),  we  find  entries  iu  our  annals  relating  to  the  Gaill- 
Gael,  who  are  sometimes  referred  to  as  the  apostate  Irish  who 
had  renounced  their  baptism.  The  word  usually  means  the 
Gael  over  sea, — the  "  sea-divided  Gael,"  the  inhabitants  of 
Argyle  ( Airer-gaedela)  of  Galloway  (Gall-gaedhela),  the  Hebrides, 
Cantire,  and  other  places.  The  Gaill-Gael,  however,  we  now 
speak  of  were  different ;  they  were  resident  in  Erin.  They  are 
referred  to  in  the  Annals  of  Ulster  and  of  the  Four  Masters, 
but  it  is  nowhere  stated  that  they  had  lapsed  into  paganism. 
Aedh  Finnliath  gained  a  great  victory  over  Gaill-Gael  at  Glenn 
Foichle  (Glenelly,  near  Strabane),  in  855.  Bishop  Reeves  was 
of  opinion — and  we  think  rightly — that  these  were  foreign 
mercenaries.^  It  is  clear,  however,  from  the  Three  Fracjments 
of  Annals  that  the  Gaill-Gael  were  located  in  Munster  and 
other  parts  of  Erin.  The  first  of  these  Fragments,  which 
relates  chiefly  to  the  Ui  Neill,  was  composed  in  the  North  ;  the 
other  two  "  evidently  belong  to  Ossory  or  Leix,  and  were 
compiled  in  some  monastery  there;  but  nothing  is  known  of 
the  age  or  nature  of  the  MSS.  from  which  Dubhthach  Mac 
Firbisigh  copied  these  Fragments.''  The  author  of  the  Third 
Fragment  states  that  Maelseachlainn  [858]  made  a  great  host- 
ing  against  the  Munster  men,  and  against  Cearbhall,  King  ol 
Ossory,  his  brother-in-law,  and  defeated  them  in  a  pitched 
battle  at  Carn  Lughdhach,  near  Gowran,  in  Kilkenny.^  He 
continues : — "  Though  Maelseachlainn  had  not  come  on  this 
expedition  to  take  the  kingdom  of  Munster  for  himself,  he 
ought  to  have  come  to  kill  all  the  Gaill-Gael  who  were  killed 

1  FourMasters,  1154.  The  Cinel  Eogain  and  Muirchertach  Ua  Neill  sent  per 
sons  over  sea  to  hire,  and  they  did  hire  the  ships  of  Gaill-Gael  of  Ara-  (Arran, 
Ceantire,  the  Isle  of  Man.  and  the  borders  of  Alba  in  general. 

^  O'Donovan,  Three  Fragments,  2  and  139.     This  hosting,  and  the  battle  of  Cam 
Lughdhach,  are  mentioned  iu  the  Annals  of  Ulster  and  the  Four  Masters. 


280  EARLt   IRISH   HISTORY. 

there,  for  they  were  a  people  who  had  renounced  their  baptism, 
and  they  were  usually  called  Northmen,  for  they  had  the 
customs  of  the  Northmen,  and  had  been  fostered  by  them  ;  and 
though  the  original  Northmen  were  bad  to  the  churches,  they 
were  by  far  worse  in  whatever  part  of  Erin  they  used  to  be." 
In  the  same  year  (858)  a  victory  was  gained  by  Cearbhall  over 
theGaill-Gael  of  Aradh  Tire  (Barony  of  Arra,  Tipperary."^)  He 
gives  an  instance  of  their  sacrilegious  spoliations  under  the  date 
of  854 : — "In  this  year  many  forsook  their  Christian  baptism, and 
joined  the  Lochlanns,  and  they  plundered  Armagh,  and  carried 
away  all  its  valuables  ;  but  some  of  them  did  penance,  and  came 
to  make  restitution  (venerunt  ad  satisfactionem)."*  Forsook 
their  baptism  may  mean  here  merely  that  they  were  recreant 
and  untrue  to  it,  especially  in  not  going  afterwards  and  making 
restitution. 

There  were,  no  doubt,  many  Gael  taken  captives,  and,  when 
young,  brought  up  as  pagans,  and  there  may  have  been  indi- 
vidual cases  of  persons  renouncing  the  Faith,  and  there  were, 
also,  no  doubt,  mercenaries  who  had  been  brought  up  as 
pagans ;  but  in  the  absence  of  all  mention  of  a  •class  of  apostate 
native-born  Gael  in  Erin  by  our  Annalists  it  is  safe  to  assume 
that  no  such  class  ever  came  into  existence. 

The  forty  years'  rest  corresponds  very  nearly  with  the  reign 
of  Flann  Sinna,  the  son  of  Maelseachlainn  (877-915).  For  this 
period  we  shall  give  only  a  few  illustrative  details.  In  883  the 
Northmen  raided  Kildare,  and  carried  off  fourteen  score  cap- 
tives to  their  ships.  In  890,  led  by  Gluniarn,  they  raided 
Armagh,  and  carried  off  710  persons  into  captivity.  In  895 
(F.M.)  they  were  on  L.  Neagh,  and  carried  off  the  "  Etach 
Padraig,"  i.e.,  Patrick's  raiment  (or  crozier  ? )  ^ 

In  895  they  were  defeated  by  the  men  of  Louth  and  Ulidia, 
with  the  loss  of  800  men.  In  this  battle  fell  Olaf,  the  son  of 
Ivar,  and  Gluntradna,  the  son  of  Gluniarn.  In  901  the  North 
men  were  expelled  from  Ath  Cliath,  by  Cearbhall,  the  son  of 
Murigen,  and  the  Leinster  men  and  the  men  of  Bregia,  and 

*  A  victory  was  gained  by  Cearbhall,  Lord  of  Ossory,  and  by  Iv^ar  in  the  terri- 
tory of  Aradh  Tire  over  the  Cinel-Fiachach  (barony  of  Moycashel,  Westmeath), 
and  the  Gaill-Gael  of  Leath  Chuinn. — Four  Masters,  856  A.D. 

*  Three  Fragments,  127. 

*  O'Donovan  says  it  was,  probably,  a  garment  preserved  in  some  old  chapel 
near  L.  Neagh.  We  suggest  that  it  was  a  crozier  like  the  "  Etach  Mochaoi," 
which  was  a  pastoral  statf,  and  called  eiccAch  (winged)  from  a  legend  that  it  flew 
from  heaven.     Bieeve's  Adamiian,  ioO. 


A  WINTES  CIRCUIT.  281 

leaving  great  numbers  of  their  ships  behind  them  they  fled  half 
dead  to  Ireland's  Eye,  where  they  were  besieged.  During 
these  years  Flann,  too,  was  busy.  In  the  first  year  of  his  reign 
(877)  he  plundered  Munster  from  Killaloe  to  Cork,  and  in  880 
made  another  raid,  and  carried  off'  their  hostages.  In  906, 
joined  by  Cearbhall,  he  plundered  from  Gowran  to  Limerick. 
The  celebrated  Cormac  MacCuilenain  was  Kinof  of  Munster 
at  this  time,  and  his  principal  adviser  was  a  fiery  abbot, 
Flaithbhertach,  of  Inis  Scattery.^  They  led  a  strong  force  in 
the  following  year  (907)  into  Meath,  and  defeated  the  army  of 
Leath  Chuinn,  on  the  historic  battle-field  of  Magh  Lena,  near 
Tullamore,  and  they  subsequently  defeated  the  Southern 
UTi  Niall  and  the  men  of  Connact,  and  carried  ofi  the  hostages 
of  Connact  in  their  great  fleets  on  the  Shannon. 

Cormac  was  bishop  of  Cashel  as  well  as  King  of  Munster. 
Some  say  that  he  had  married  the  daughter  of  Flann  Sinna — 
Gormlaith,  the  blue-eyed  princess,  and  had  repudiated  her. 
Others  say,  with  more  probability,  that  there  was  only  a 
betrothal  between  them,  and  that  the  ensrafjement  was  broken 
off.  In  either  case  Gormlaith  was  not  likely  to  be  a  peace- 
maker. At  this  time  she  was  the  wife  of  Cearbhall,  the  son  of 
Murigen,  the  King  of  Leinster  who  must  not  be  confounded 
with  Cearbhall,  the  King  of  Ossory,  and  subsequently  became 
the  wife  of  Niall  Glandubh.  An  ecclesiastical  element  was 
also  added  to  the  seething  cauldron.^  There  was  at  this  time 
a  famous  monastery  at  Monasterevan  which  had  been  founded 
by  Evin,  of  the  line  of  Eogan  Mor,  and  the  monks  in  the 
abbey  were  all  Munster  men,  and  it  was  called  M  uimneach 
i.e.,  of  the  Munster  men.  Cearbhall,  King  of  Leinster,  took 
forcible  possession  of  it  and  expelled  the  monks,  who  promptly 
laid  their  grievances  before  Cormac  and  the  fiery  abbot,  who 
was  himself  of  the  line  of  Eogan  Mor.     It  is  also  stated  that 

•  Flaithbhertach  afterwards  became  king  of  Cashel,  i.e.,  Munster.  He  resigned 
the  kingship,  and  went  oa  his  pilgrimage  in  920  (F.M.),  and  was  succeeded  by 
Lorcan,  the  grandfather  of  Brian  Boru. 

'  Even  if  there  was  a  contract  per  verba  de  presenti,  as  sometimes  happened 
in  those  days  between  persons  of  tender  years,  it  would  be  nullified  by  Cormac 
becoming  a  professed  religious,  if  the  marriage  was  not  consummated,  and  we 
think  it  likely  that  Cormac  was  a  "religious,"  like  his  successor,  Flaithbertach, 
the  abbot  of  Inis  Scattery. 

Se  quis  dixerit  matrimoniura  ratum  non  consummatum  par  solemnem 
religionia  professionem  alteriua  conjugum  non  dirimi  anathem-i  ciit. 

0onc.  Trident,  sess.  xxiv.,  can.  6. 

•  CJ,  O'Halloran,  History  of  Ireland,  185. 


282  Early  Irish  history. 

Cormac  demanded  the  boroma  from  Leinster.  Howcvor  this 
may  be,  the  result  of  these  complications,  which  we  shall  not 
attempt  to  unravel,  was  that  a  pitched  battle  was  fought  (908)  at 
BealachMughna(Ballaghmoon),iaKildare,abouttwoandahalf 
miles  north  of  Carlow. 

Woeful  indeed  was  the  tumult  and  clamour  of  that  battle,  for  thf^re 
rose  the  death-cry  of  the  Muaster  men  as  they  fell,  aud  the  shouting 
of  the  Leinster  men,  exulting  in  the  slaughter  of  their  foes.  There 
were  two  causes  why  the  fight  went  so  suddenly  against  the  men  of 
Munster.  The  first  was  because  Keilcher,  a  relative  of  Finguime 
(Cor mac's  predecessor)  jumped  hastily  upon  his  steed  and  cried  out, 
"  Flee,  O  Free  Clans  of  Munster  ;  flee  from  this  terrific  conflict,  and 
let  the  clerics  fi^ht  it  out  themselves,  since  they  would  accept  of  no 
other  conditions  but  that  of  battle  from  the  men  of  Leinster."  He 
then  clapped  spurs  to  his  horse  and  quitted  the  field  with  his  followers. 
The  second  cause  was  that  Ceallach,  the  son  of  the  King  of  Ossory,  who 
was  on  Cormac's  side,  also  rode  otf  the  field  with  the  men  of  Ossory. 
A  ceiieral  rout  followed.  Neither  boy,  man,  or  cleric  found  quarter  ; 
all  were  slaughtered  indiscriminately.  Cormac  rushed  towards  the 
van  of  his  division.  His  horse  fell  on  the  slippery  blood-stained  field 
His  neck  was  broken  in  the  fall,  and  he  died  saying,  "  Into  Thy  hands 
O  Lord,  I  commend  my  spirit."  And  then  some  wicked  folk  came  up 
and  pierced  the  body  with  their  spears  and  cut  off  his  head.^ 

His  loss  was  mournful,  for  he  was  a  King,  a  bishop,  an  anchorite, 
a  scribe,  and  profoundly  learned  in  the  Gaehc  tongue.     He  was  the 
author  of  "  Cormac's  Glossary,"  by  far  the  oldest  attempt  at  a  com- 
parative vernacular  dictionary  made  in  any  language  in  modern  Europe, 
which  has  fortunately  come  down  to  us.     "  The  Psalter  of  Cashel,"  now 
lost,  was  compiled  by  him,  or  under  his  direction.     He  appears  to  have 
known  Latin,  Greek,  Hebrew,  and  Danish,  and  to  have  been  one  of  the 
finest  old  Gaelic  scholars  of  his  day,  and  withal,  an  accomplished  poet. 
His  verses  are  now  lost.^*^ 

The  forty  years'  rest  ended  in  915  A.D.  The  year  before  a 
new  fleet  o£  Norsemen  arrived  at  Waterford,  and  were  soon 
followed  by  strong  reinforcements.  Munster  was  raided,  and 
the  Gael  roused  for  once  to  something  like  united  action. 
Flann  Sinna  died  at  Tailtin  in  916,  and  was  succeeded  by  Niall 
Glundubh,  the  son  of  Aedh  Finnliath.  Niall  at  once  sum- 
moned all  his  forces  to  meet  the  new  invasion.  He  led  the 
Northern  and  Southern  Ui  Neill  to  the  aid  of  the  men  of 
Munster  and  Leinster.  The  campaign,  however,  resulted 
favourably  for  the  Norsemen.  The  men  of  Leinster  were 
defeated  at  Cennfuait,  Kildare  was  raided,  and  Dublin 
reoccupied.      Next  year  (917)  Niall  reassembled  his   forces 

»  Keating  (O'Mahony)  529. 

"  Four  Masters,  903  (rede,  908),  A.D.     Hyde,  LiUraiure,  420. 


A   WlN-fER  CiRCtJiT.  283 

and  advanced  on  Dublin.     A  decisive  battle  was  fought  on  the 

19th  of  October  at  Kilmashogue,  near  Rathfarnhara,  about  five 

miles  south  of  the  present  city.      The  army  of  the  High  King 

included  the  Southern  and  Northern  Ui  Neill,    the  men  of 

Little  Ulster,  and  the  men  of  Oirghialla.     The  men  of  Leinster, 

Munster,  and  probably  the  men  of  Connacht,  were  engaged 

defending  their  own  territories.     The  Gael  were  routed  with 

red  slaughter :  Niall  was  slain  with,  some  say,  twelve  kings  or 

chieftains  around  him.     The  Four  Masters  mention  Conchobar, 

Ua  Maelseachlainn,  regdamna  of  the  Southern  Ui  Neill ;  the 

King  of  Little  Ulster,  the  Lord  of  Oirghialla,  and  many  others. 

"  Sorrowful  that  day  was  holy  Erin 
To  view  Magh-Neill  {i.e.,  Erin)  without  Niall." 

This  defeat  was,  however,  avenged  in  the  following  year  by 
Niall's  successor,  Donnchadh,  the  son  of  Flann  Sinna,  who 
gained  a  signal  victory  over  the  Norsemen  in  North  Dublin. 
There  fell  as  many  of  the  nobles  and  rank  and  file  of  the  North- 
men as  had  fallen  of  the  Gael  in  the  battle  of  Kilmashogue. 
Notwithstanding  this  victory,  we  find  Godfrey  in  possession  of 
Dublin  in  926,  from  which  he  plundered  Armagh,  but  spared 
the  "  oratories,"  the  Ceile  De,  and  the  sick.  The  Northmen 
then  sent  divisions  north  and  east  and  west.  The  force  that  went 
north  was  encountered  and  defeated  by  Muirchertach  of  the 
Leather  Cloaks,  as  he  came  to  be  called,  the  son  of  Niall 
Glundubh,  and  from  this  time  until  his  death  (943)  he  was  the 
mainstay  of  the  Gael  in  the  north.  He  was  then  King  of 
Aileach,  and,  if  he  had  survived,  would  undoubtedly  have  been 
the  next  Ard  Righ  in  succession  to  Donnchadh.  He  married, 
first,  Flanna,  the  daughter  of  Donnchadh,  the  Ard  Righ,  and, 
secondly,  in  940,  Dubdara,  the  daughter  of  Ceallach,  King  of 
Ossory.  The  entries  in  our  Annals  respecting  him  are  most 
interesting,  and  present  a  view  of  the  social  state  of  Erin, 
which  is  almost  incomprehensible. 

926 — Two  victories  by  Muirchertach  over  the  Northmen. 
The  second  at  Cluain  na  g-cruimthir,  where  800  were  killed. 

927 — War  with  Duach,  the  chieftain  of  Glenn  Given 
(Derry),  during  which  the  chieftain  was  slain. 

In  the  same  year  Donnchadh,  the  Ard  Righ,  was  prevented 
from  holding  the  fair  of  Tail  tin  by  Muirchertach  inconsequence 
of  a  challenge  of  battle  between  theai,  but  God  separated  them 
without  slaughter. 


284  EARLY  IRISH  HISTORY. 

929 — Donnchadh  led  an  army  to  Leitrim  against  Muircher- 
tach,  but  they  separated  without  bloodshed. 

932 — Torolbh,  the  jarl,  commanding  a  fleet  of  Korsomen  on 
Lough  Neagh,  was  slain  by  Muirchertach, 

933 — Muirchertach  was  defeated  by  Gaelic  chieftains  in 
Meath. 

938 — A  challenge  of  battle  between  Donnchadh  and  Muir- 
chertach until  they  made  peace,  united  their  forces,  marched  to 
lay  siege  to  Dublin,  and  spoiled  the  country  of  the  foreigners 
from  Ath  Cliath  to  Ath  Truistin,  near  Athy. 

939 — The  Northmen  plundered  Aileach  and  took  Muircher- 
tach prisoner  to  their  ships  on  Lough  Swilly,  but  he  made  his 
escape  from  them  soon  after,  to  the  great  joy  of  the  Gael. 

940 — A  hosting  by  Donnchadh,  Ard  Righ,  and  Muirchertach 
into  Leinster  and  Munster  until  they  took  hostages  from  them. 

941 — Muirchertach  raided  Ossory  and  the  Desies ;  made  a 
royal  expedition  to  the  Hebrides,  from  which  he  brought  back 
much  plunder  and  booty,  and  hearing  that  Callaghan  of  Cashel 
had  made  a  slausfhter  of  the  Desies  for  submittinof  to  him  the 
/ear  before,  he  set  out  in  mid-winter  of  the  same  year  on  his 
famous  circuit  of  Erin  with  one  thousand  picked  warriors. 
This  expedition  is  celebrated  in  a  famous  poem  by  Cormacan 
Eigeas  {the  Poet),  who  died  in  948.  Ho  was  the  chief  poet  of 
the  Northern  Ui  Neill  and  the  friend  and  follower  of  Muircher- 
tach, and  seemingly  accompanied  him.  The  poem  is  very 
interesting,  as  it  illustrates  the  manners  of  the  time,  social  and 
political,  and  deserves,  consequently,  a  somewhat  detailed 
notice.     It  commences  :— 

Muirchertach,  son  of  the  valiant  Niall  (Glundubh), 

Thou  hast  taken  the  hostages  of  luis  Fail, 

Thou  hast  brought  them  all  unto  Aileach, 

Into  the  grianan  of  the  splendid  steeds. 

Thou  didst  go  forth  from  us  with  a  thousand  heroes 

Of  the  race  of  Eogan  of  the  red  weapons 

To  make  the  great  circuit  of  all  Erin. 

O,  Muirchertach  of  the  yellow  hair, 

The  day  that  thou  didst  set  out  from  us  eastwards 

Into  the  fair  province  of  Conchobar  (Mac  Nessa) 

Many  were  the  tears  down  beauteous  cheeks 

Among  the  fair-haired  women  of  Aileach. 

They  spent  a  night  at  Oenach  Cros  in  Antrim — "  Not  more 
pleasant  to  be  in  Paradise  " — and  brought  Loingseach  of  Linno 
as  a  hostage ;  a  night  at  Don  Eachach  on  the  Ravel  Water, 


A   WINTER   CIRCUIT.  285 

and  brought  the  King  of  Uiidia  with  them  ;  a  night  at  Magh 

Rath  (Moira) ;  a  night  at  Glenn  Righe  (the  vale  of  the  Newry 

river) ;  a  night  at  Casan  Linne  in  Down;  and  a  night  at  Ath 

Gabla  on  the  Boyne. 

We  were  a  night  at  Ath  Cliath  ; 

It  was  not  pleasing  to  the  foreigaera. 

There  was  a  damsel  in  the  fort 

Whose  soul  the  son  of  Niall  was.  ^^ 

She  came  forth  until  she  was  outside  the  walls, 

Although  the  night  was  bad  throughout. 

Bacon  and  fine  good  wheat  and  joints  of  meat  and  fine 
cheese  were  given  by  the  beautiful  queen,  and  a  coloured 
tnantle  for  each  chieftain. 

We  carried  off  Sitric  of  the  treasures  ; 
To  me  was  assigned  the  duty  of  keeping  him, 
And  there  was  not  put  upon  him  a  haadcuif, 
Nor  a  polished  tight  fetter. 

They  were  a  night  at  Dunlavin ;  a  night  at  cold  KilcuUen. 
The  snow  came  from  the  north-east. 

Our  only  houses,  without  distinction  of  rank, 
Were  our  strong  (sheep  ?)  skin  cloaks.^2 

They  brought  off  Lorcan,  King  of  Leinster,  with  a  rough, 

bright  fetter  on  him.     They  spent  a  night  at  Ballaghmoon, 

near  Carlow,  and  passing  into  Ossory,  received  food,  and  ale, 

and  hogs  from  its  hospitable  chiefs.     "  Not  a  man  of  them 

returned  to  his  house  without  a  beautiful  present  of  dress," 

They  received  coigne  and  tribute  from  the  Desies,  and  marched 

to  Cashel.^^     The  men  of  Munster  were  disposed  to  fight,  but 

Gallaglian  of  Cashel  said  : — 

O  men  of  Munster,  men  of  renown, 

Oppose  not  the  race  of  Eogan ; 

Better  that  I  go  with  them  as  a  hostage. 

We  took  with  us,  therefore,  Callaghan  the  Just, 

Who  received  his  due  honour  ; 

A  ring  (of  gold  ?)  of  fifteen  ouaces  on  his  hand, 

And  a  chain  of  iron  on  his  stout  lags. 

They  spent  a  night  in  Hy  Gairhre  (Coshma,  Limerick) ;  a 
night  at  Killaloe,  and  then  turned  homewards.     At  Headford 

'*  Haliday  suggests  that  the  damsel  was  Donnflaith,  the  daughter  of  Miiir 
cliertach  and  the  wife  of  Olaf.     She  was  the  mother  of  Gluncaran. 

^2  Aji  5COCA1I  cotif  A  ctioicinn.  This  is  generally  rendererd  "  leather  cloaks." 
They  were,  we  think,  dressed  sheep-skins,  untanned  and  unshorn. 

1^  Diibdira,  wife  of  Muirchertach,  was,  as  we  have  stated,  the  daughter  of  the 
chieftain  of  Osaory. 


286  EARLY   IRISH  HISTORT. 

they  found  the  Kings  of  Connact  awaiting  them,  and  Conchpbar, 

the  son  of  Tadg  the  Bull-like. 

The  ard-righ  of  valiant  Connact 
Came  with  us,  without  a  bright  fetter, 
Into  the  green  grianan  of  Aileach. 

Nearing  home, 

A  giolla  was  despatched  to  Aileach 

To  tell  Dubhdara  of  the  black  hair, 

To  send  women  to  cut  rushes. 
"  Bestir  thee,  Dubdara  "  (spoke  the  giolla), 
•'  Hero  is  company  coming  to  thy  house, 

Attend  each  man  of  them 

As  a  king  should  be  attended." 

The  noble  kings  were  attended  "  as  if  they  had  been  clerics," 

"  ten  score  hogs  ;  tea  score  cows  ;  200  oxen  ;  three  score  vats 

of  curds,  which  banished  the  hungry  look  of  the  army,"  twelve 

vats  of  choice  mead ;  and  all  this  was  the  gift  of  the  queen, 

from  her  separate  property,  which  was  repaid  to  her  by  Muir- 

chertach,  "  twenty  hogs  for  every  hog,  a  good  return."     At 

the  end  of  four  months,  Muirchertach  offered  the  "  noble  kings 

to  Donnchad,  the  ard  righ,  who  courteously  declined  to  accept 

them  from  his  son-in-law,  and  said  :— 

Receive  my  blessing  nobly, 

May  Tara  be  possessed  by  thee. 

May  the  hostages  of  the  Gael  be  in  thy  house, 

O  good  son,  O  Muirchertach." 

Muirchertach  was  slain  (943)  in  a  battle  fought  near  Ardee, 

by  Blocar,  the  son  of  Godfrey,  and  the  foreigners,  who  marched 

to  Armagh  after  their  victory,  and  plundered  it.     The  hostages 

taken  to  secure  Muirchertach's  succession  were  then  liberated, 

"  The  word  grianan  occurs  twice  in  the  poem. 

(1).  Into  the  grianan  of  the  splendid  steeds  (line  4), 

1r  1"  SfSA^'Ati  JALt  5tioi-oeAc. 

Tuis  O'Donovan  renders  : — 

Into  ths  stone-built  grianan  (palace)  of  steeds. 

(2).  Into  the  green  grianan  of  Aileach  (line  laO), 

1  n-5tie4TiAn  uAine  Oitij. 

This  O'Donovan  renders  : — 

Into  the  green  Palace  of  Aileach. 

The  151st  line  is  :— 

A-oAij  1  nioi j  Ai  uAine. 
A  night  on  green  M»gh  Ai  (a  celebrated  plain  in  Roscommon). 

We  think  that  the  meaning  of  grianan  here  is  not  a  palace,  but  an  enclosure, 
or  paddock ;  a  meaning  which  it  bore  until  recently,  as  we  have  already 
stated  (c.  xiv.),  in  the  Highlands.  "  Enclosures  in  the  Highlands  were  called 
grianans" — Bonwick,  Druids,  192.  The  troop  of  hostages,  with  their  attendants, 
were,  we  think,  accommodated  in  tents,  or  "wattle  and  dab"  buildings,  within 
the  "  horse  paddock,"  at  Aileach.  The  epithet  "green"  is  then  as  applicable  in 
line  150  as  in  line  151,  but  we  confess  we  do  not  understand  what  is  meant  by  a 
green,  stone-built,  palace.  Muirchertach  is  referred  to  in  line  16  as  "  of  the  great 
steeds"  (rhoj\-5tioi'Di5;). 


A   WIXTEB   CIRCUIT.  287 

and  on  the  death  of  Donnchadh  (944),  the  rule  of  alternate 
succession  was  disregarded,  and  Congalach,  of  the  southern 
branch,  became  Ardrigh.  A  rival  claimant  then  appeared, 
of  the  line  of  Conal  Gulban,  Ruadhri  Ua  Cannannain,  from 
Tir-Conaill,  He  defeated  Congalach,  who  was  supported  bv 
Olaf  Cuaran,  in  a  pitched  battle  near  Slane,  in  Meath  (947). 
In  948  he  defeated  Congalach  again  and  plundered  Bregia. 
He  encamped  at  Muine  Brocaia,  and  there  assumed  the 
name  and  authority  of  High  King  of  Erin,  and  the  "  dues 
of  the  King  of  Erin  were  sent  to  him  from  every  quarter  " 
{Four  Masters).  In  this  position  he  was  attacked  by  the 
foreigners  and  after  a  desperate  struggle  in  which  six 
thousand  of  the  foreigners  fell,  Ruadhri  was  slain  in  the 
"counterblow"  of  the  fight,  but  the  victory  finally  remained 
with  his  army.  Congalach  then  held  the  sovereignty  without 
further  opposition,  and  led  a  hosting  into  Munster,  raided  and 
plundered  West  Munster,  and  killed  the  two  sons  of  Kennedy, 
the  son  of  Lorcan,  Echtighern  and  Donnchuan.  In  the  follow- 
ing year  (951),  he  made  a  hosting  with  a  great  fleet  on  Lough 
Derg,  and  took  the  hostages  of  the  Munster  men,  over  whom 
he  obtained  sway  after  some  opposition. 

In  the  same  year,  probably  whilst  Congalach  was  away 
harrying  the  men  of  Munster,  the  foreigners,  under  Godfrey^ 
the  son  of  Sitric,  raided  Meath,  and  "  carried  upwards  of  three 
thousand  persons  with  them  into  captivity,  besides  gold,  silver, 
raiment,  and  various  wealth  and  goods  of  every  description." 

During  the  reign  of  Congalach  an  event  occurred  (950), 
which  deserves  particular  notice,  as  showing  the  use  to  which 
a  Round  Tower  was  put  in  time  of  danger.  The  cloictech  of 
Slane  in  Meath  was  burned  by  the  Northmen,  "  with  its  full  of- 
relics  and  distinguished  persons,  and  the  crozier  of  the  patron 
saint,  and  the  bell,  which  was  the  best  of  bells."  The  following 
items  are  also  of  interest : — 

951 — Clonfert  plundered  by  Callaghan  of  Cashel  and  the 
Munster  men. 

953 — Clonmacnoise  plunderedby  the  foreigners  of  Limerick, 
and  the  Munster  men  along  with  them. 

954 — Inis  Uladh,  near  Donard  (Wicklow),  plundered  by 
Olaf  Cuaran  and  Tuathal,  son  of  XJo-aire. 

954 — Saighir  Ciaraan  plundered  by  the  Munster  men. 

Congalach  raided  Leinster  in  956.     The  Leinster  men  sent 


288  EARLY   IRISH   HISTORY. 

word  to  Olaf  Cuaran,  and  the  foreigners  of  Ath  Cliath,  who 
laid  a  battle  ambush  for  him,  and  he  was  slain  with  many 
chieftains  near  the  LifFey,  not  far  from  Dublin.  He  was  sue- 
ceeded  by  Domhnall,  son  of  Muirchertach,  of  the  northern  Ui 
Neill.  Many  years  afterwards  Domhnall,  the  son  of  Congalach, 
made  alliance  with  Olaf,  and  fought  a  pitched  battle  against 
the  High  King  at  Kilmoon,  near  Dunshaughlin  in  Meath,  in 
which  he  was  victorious,  but  failed  to  oust  King  Domhnall,  who 
continued  to  reign  until  he  died  (978)  at  Armagh.  He  was 
afterwards  called  Domhnall  of  Armagh,  because  he  resided  there 
a  long  time  to  do  penance.  He  was  succeeded  by  Maelseachlainn 
IL,  Maelseachlainn  the  Great,  who  was  the  last  Ardrigh  of  the 
Gael  who  ruled  without  opposition. 

During  the  sixty  years  that  elapsed  from  the  battle  of 
Kilmashogue  (919),  the  Northmen  of  Ath-cliath  had  made  no 
addition  to  their  territory  near  Dublin.  As  in  the  previous 
period,  they  were  seemingly  settling  down  into  the  position  of 
Gaelic  chieftains.  There  were  frequent  intermarriages  and 
shifting  alliances  between  them  and  the  older  settlers,  now 
with  one  chieftain,  now  with  another,  for  war  or  plunder. 
Many  of  them  had  probably  been  by  this  time  converted  to 
Christianity. 

There  were  also  raiding  expeditions  conducted  by  them- 
selves    independently.       Territories    were    harried,    termons 
violated,  and  monasteries  rifled,  but  these  regrettable  incidents 
occurred  also  amongst  the  Gael  themselves.     The  fusion  of  the 
two  branches  of  the  Nordic  race,  if  yet  distant,  seemed  to  be 
approaching.     From   the   accounts    given    in    the    historical 
romances,  and  particularly  in  the  "  War  of  the  Gael  with  the 
Gaill"  to  which  we  shall  refer  later  on,  the  notion  is  widely 
diffused  that  the  country  was  at  this  time,  and  thence  onwards 
to  the  battle  of  Clontarf  (1014),  reduced  by  the  tyranny  of  the 
Northmen  to  a  state  of   absolute    barbarism    and    savagery. 
This,  however,  was  not  the  case.     The  raiding  meant  little 
more  than  cattle-lifting.     The  number  of   men  slain  in  the 
numerous  combats  was  not  great,  and  is  no  doubt,  as  is  usual 
in  such  cases,  greatly  exaggerated  by  the  annalists  and  bardic 
narrators.     It  is  probable,  we  think,  that  more  Irishmen  in 
proportion  to  population  fell  in  battle  or  died  from  wounds 
and  disease  in  the  wars  of  the  nineteenth  than  in  the  wars  of  the 
tenth  century.    Nor  could  the  rifling  of  the  monasteries  have 


A   WINTER   CIRCUIT.  289 

been  fruitful  of  much  spoil  after  the  earlier  attacks.  There  were 
no  treasures  hoarded  or  deposited  in  them,  and  their  modest 
equipment  of  valuables,  consisting,  apart  from  the  cattle, 
principally  of  relics,  shrines,  chalices,  and  other  altar  requisites, 
could  be  easily  hidden  away  if  the  cloicteach  was  not  available 
or  was  considered  insecure.  And  the  burning  of  the  "  wattle 
and  dab  "  buildings  could  not  be  much  more  than  a  temporary 
inconvenience.  It  has  been  said  that  it  was  harder  to  burn 
than  to  build  them.  We  make  these  observations,  not  to 
extenuate  the  outrages,  but  to  call  attention  to  exaggerations. 
The  most  serious  part  of  these  raidings  by  the  Northmen  was 
the  taking  of  captives.  In  several  instances  recorded  in  our 
annals  the  captives  were  carried  off  to  the  ships  and  were,  no 
doubt,  either  ransomed  or  reduced  to  slavery.  With  the  Gael 
we  hear  very  little  of  prisoners  or  captives.  In  battle,  apparently 
quarter  was  seldom  if  ever  given.  Later  on  we  shall  meet  with 
an  instance  where  the  defeated  Northmen  were  put  to  death  or 
sold  as  slaves  at  Singland  near  Limerick.  We  are,  therefore, 
on  the  whole  prepared  to  find  that  notwithstanding  much  that 
needed  reformation  in  the  social  state,  learning  and  literature 
flourished  during  the  ninth  and  tenth  centuries.  The  most 
celebrated  names  besides  Cormac  Mac  Cuilenain,  already  men- 
tioned, were  Flann  Mac  Lonain,  "  the  Virgil  of  the  Gael,"  a 
contemporary  of  Cormac's ;  Cinnaeth  Ua  hArtacain  ^-\-9l3), 
Eocaid  O'Flynn  (  +  984  c),  Cormac  an  Eigeas,  Maelmarra  of 
Fahon,  MacLiag,  and  others.  Nor  was  the  gentler  sex  unrepre- 
sented. Gormlaith,  the  wife  of  Niall  Glundubh,  was  a  poetess 
of  considerable  merit.  Many  of  her  poems  express  her  sorrow 
for  his  loss.     We  give  the  following  graceful  lines  as  a  sample : 

Monk,  remove  thy  foot, 

Lift  it  off  the  grave  of  Miall ; 

Too  long  dost  thou  heap  the  earth 

On  him  with  whom  I  fain  would  lie. 

Too  long  dost  thou,  Monk,  there 

Heap  the  earth  on  noble  Niall ; 

Thou  brown-haired  friend,  though  gentle, 

Press  not  with  thy  shoe  the  earth, 

Do  not  firmly  close  the  grave, 

O  Priest,  whose  office  is  so  sad, 

Lift  off  the  bright-hair'd  Niall  Glundubh  ; 

Monk,  remove  thy  foot.^^ 

"  Dean  of  Lismore's  Book.  75  Gaelic,  101  English. 


[     200     ^ 


CHAPTER  XX. 


BRIAN    BORU. 


WE  must  now  follow  the  fortunes  of  the  Northmen  in  the 
South,  after  the  forty  years'  rest.     They  arrived  in  large 
numbers  at  Waterford,  and  after  the  battle  of  Kilmashogue 
(918)    sailed   up   the   Shannon  with  a  great  fleet,  under  the 
command  of  Gormo,  the  son  of  Elgi,  called  Tomar  by  the  Gael. 
They  took  possession  of  Inis  Sibhtonn,  now  King's  Island  at 
Limerick ;  went  up  the  river  to  L.  Ree ;  plundered  the  islands 
there,   and  burned  Clonmacnoise.     In  924,  CoUa,  the  son  of 
Barill,  the  lord  of  Limerick,  went   again  on   L.    Ree,  raided 
Brawney  in  Westmeath,  and  killed  the  chieftain   Echtigern. 
In  929  they  invaded  Connact,  and  went  on  L.  Corrib ;  but  in 
tiie  following  year  a  great  slaughter  was  made  of  them  by  the 
men  of  that  province.    They  next  made  a  hosting  into  Ossory, 
under  Ivar,  the  grandson  of  Ivar,  and  encamped  on  the  famous 
plain  of  Magh  Roighne,  where   they    were    attacked    in  the 
following  year  by  the  Northmen  of  Dublin,  under  Godfrey, 
who  was  probably  in  alliance  with  the  men  of  Ossory.    He  had 
previously  (923  or  924  A.D.)  attacked  them  at  Limerick,  and 
had  been  defeated  by  Tomar,  the  son  of  Elgi.    On  this  occasion 
he  was  successful,  and  expelled  the  invaders.     Ivar  soon  after 
made  alliance  with  Ceallachan  of  Cashel,  King  of  Munster,  and 
they  plundered  the  monasteries,   Cluain  Eidneach  and  Cilia- 
chaedh,  and  the  territory  of  Meath  (939).     Clonmacnoise  was 
again  plundered  by  the  Munster  men  and  the  Northmen  of 
Limerick;   and  St.    Mullins,  on  the  Barrow  in   Carlo w,  was 
raided  from  the  sea  by  Larac,  after  whom,  probably,  Waterford 
was  named  Port  Lairge.     In  959  Clonmacnoise  was  again  plun- 
dered by  Mahon,  the  eldest  brother  of  Brian  Boru,  and  the 
Munster  men.     In  960  it  was  plundered  again  by  the  men  of 


BRIAN   BORU.  291 

Ossory,  and  the  men  of  Munster  raided  "  the  termon  of  Ciaran 
eastwards  from  the  Shannon.''  On  the  death  of  Fergraidh,  in 
960,  Mahon  became  King  of  Manster,^  and  in  the  same  year  a 
fleet  of  the  son  of  Olaf  and  the  Ladgmans  came  to  Erin,  and 
phindered  Louth  and  Howth,  and  the  Ladgmans  afterwards 
sailed  to  Munster,  and  raided  Ui  Leathain,  and  pkmdered  Lis- 
more  and  Cork.  They  went  after  that  into  Ui  Leathain 
(S.E.  Cork),  where  they  were  overtaken  by  Mael-Chiithe  Ua 
Maeleitinn,  who  made  a  groat  slaughter  of  them,  killing  3S5, 
so  that  there  escaped  not  one  of  them,  only  the  crows  of  three 
ships.  A  prey  by  Sitric  Cam,  from  the  sea  to  Ui  Colgain ;  ^ 
but  he  was  overtaken  by  Olaf  with  the  foreigners  of  Ath 
Cliath  and  the  Leinster  men.  Olaf  was  victorious,  and  wounded 
Sitric  with  an  arrow  in  his  thigh,  who  escaped  to  his  ships 
after  the  slaughter  of  his  people. 

In  960,  (F.M.),  the  Ui  Neill  led  an  army  into  Munster, 
and  committed  great  plunders  there.  In  961,  Feargal  Ua 
Ruairc,  King  of  Connact,  mado  a  slaughter  of  Mahon's  men. 
Three  score  were  killed,  including  three  grandsons  of  Lorcan. 
In  962  Kildare  was  raided  by  the  Northmen,  and  a  great 
number  of  seniors  and  ecclesiastics  were  taken  prisoners,  who 
were  afterwards  ransomed.  The  full  of  St,  Brigid's  great  house, 
and  the  full  of  the  oratory  of  them,  is  what  Niall  Ua 
h-Eruilbh  purchased  with  his  own  money.  A  victory  by  the  men 
of  Ossory  over  Olaf,  the  son  of  Sitric,  was  won  in  the  same  year 
at  Inistiogue  on  the  Nore.* 

The  Four  Masters  state  that  in  965  Mahon  plundered 
Limerick  and  burned  it.  But  we  are  anticipating.  Up  till  this 
time  the  Norsemen  of  the  South  appear  to  have  occupied 
nearly  the  same  position  as  the  Northmen  in  Ath  Cliath. 
They  held  the  fort  and  town  of  Waterford  (Vedra  Feordr, 
Weacher  Haven),  and  some  territory  near  it — probably  what  is 
now  known  as  the  barony  Gaultier  (Gall  tire),  and  the  fort  and 
town  of  Limerick,  and  some  territory  near  it — probably  what 

^  The  succession  of  the  Kings  of  Munster,  according  to  the  Book  oj  Leinster, 
was  as  follows : — (1)  Corniac  mac  Cuilenainn ;  (2)  Flabhertach,  Abbot  of  Inis 
Scattery ;  (3)  Lorcan ;  (4)  Ceallachan  of  Cashel ;  (5)  Mael  Fithortagh  ;  (6) 
Dubhdabairind  ;  (7)  Fergradh  ;  (8)  Mathgamhain  or  Mahon  ;  (9)  Molloy,  the  son  of 
Bran ;  (10)  Brian  Boru,  "  killed  in  the  battle  of  the  weir  of  Cluain  Taerhh  (Ciontarf) 
by  the  Leinster  men  and  the  foreigners." — Todd,  War  of  the  Gael,  239. 

2  Ui  Colgain  was  in  the  territory  of  Olfaly,  and  co-extensive  with  the  barony 
of  Philipatown,  in  the  King's  C!ounty. 

3  Petrie  Round  Towers,  227. 


292  EARLY   IRISH   HISTORY. 

was  afterwards  known  as  the  Ostman's  Cantred— and  they 
made  alliances,  intermarriages,  and  raidings  like  their  kins- 
men ;  and,  to  crown  all,  they  fought  with  one  another  just  like 
the  native  chieftains.  There  was  no  attempt  t'^  form  a  com- 
bination of  the  Gael  against  them ;  no  Gaelic  chieftain  un- 
furled a  national  flag,  and  summoned  his  countrymen  to  a  war 
of  liberation.  The  bardic  account  of  their  position  and  doing. 
in  Munster  is,  however,  very  different.  The  author  of  the 
"War  of  the  Gael  with  the  Gaill"  approaches  the  subject  from 
the  tribal  standpoint.  He  is  a  panegyrist  of  the  Dal  Cais,  to 
which  tribe  he  belonged,  and  by  whose  bounty  he  was,  no 
doubt,  rewarded.  He  tells  us  that  "  they  excelled  all  other 
tribes  in  Erin  as  a  bright  watch-tower,  shining  above  all  the 
light  of  the  earth,  as  the  bright  sun  outshines  the  noblest  stars 
of  the  sky.''  And  in  order  to  show  how  much  the  men  of  Erin 
owed  to  their  deliverers  from  bondage,  he  extols  the  bravery, 
the  superior  discipline,  and  the  armaments  of  the  Norsemen, 
while  he  paints  a  dark  picture  of  their  cruelty  and  oppression : — 

There  was  a  king  of  them  in  every  territory  and  an  abbot  in  every 
church  (!)  and  a  steward  in  every  village,  and  a  soldier  in  every  house; 
80  that  none  of  the  men  of  Erin  had  power  even  to  give  the  milk  of  his 
cow,  nor  as  much  as  the  clutch  of  eggs  of  his  hen,  in  succour  or  kind- 
ness to  an  aged  man  or  to  a  friend,  but  was  obliged  to  preserve  them 
for  the  foreign  steward,  or  bailiff,  or  soldier.  And  though  there  might 
be  but  one  milk-giving  cow  in  the  house,  she  durst  not  be  milked  for  an 
infant  of  one  night,  etc.  And  an  ounce  of  silver  for  every  nose,  besides 
the  royal  tribute  afterwards  every  year ;  and  he  who  had  not  the  means 
of  paying  it  had  himself  to  go  into  slavery  for  it.  In  a  word,  though 
there  were  a  hundred  hard  steeled  iron  heads  on  one  neck,  and  a 
hundred  sharp,  ready  cool,  never-resting  brazen  tongues  in  each  head, 
and  a  hundred  garrulous,  loud,  unceasing  voices  from  each  tongue,  they 
could  not  recount,  nor  narrate,  nor  enumerate,  nor  tell  what  all  the  Gael 
suffered  in  common  from  this  valiant,  wrathful,  foreign,  fiercely  pagan 
people.  None  of  the  victorious  clans  of  many-familied  Erin  could  give 
relief  against  the  oppression  because  of  the  excellence  of  their  "  polished, 
ample,  heavy,  trusty,  glittering "  corselets,  and  their  hard,  strong, 
valiant  swords,  and  their  well-ri vetted  long  spears,  etc.,  and  because  of 
their  thirst  and  hunger  for  the  sweet  grassy  land  of  ll.rin.  There  was, 
however,  a  certain,  gracious,  noble,  high-born,  beaxitiful  tribe  in  Erin 
who  never  submitted  to  oppression.  These  were  the  deliverers,  the 
famous  Dal-Cais. 

The  style  and  character  of  "  the  War  of  the  Gael  with  the 
Gaill"  may  be  judged  from  the  foregoing  extract.  It  is  marked 
with  the  malady  of  the  decadence.  There  is  the  accumulation 
of  epithets,  and  the  exaggeration  we  have  already  noticed  in 


BRIAN  BORU.  ^93 

the  modern  prose  cadditions  to  the  Tain.  This  disease,  how- 
ever, is  not  pecnliar  to  Gaelic  writers.  It  appears  in  the 
Orphic  literature  of  Greece  and  is  found  in  an  acute  form  in 
the  Hymn  to  Ares,  which  is  Orphic,  though  usually  classed  as 
one  of  the  Homeric  Hymns.  We  have  observed  it  also  in 
Hindustani,  where  it  takes  the  milder  form  of  the  duplication 
of  verbs  of  similar  meaning,  emasculating  the  force  of  that 
smooth  and  interesting  language.  In  our  bardic  narratives^ 
sense  and  thought  are  thus  often  diluted  until  their  presence 
can,  with  difficulty,  be  detected  in  the  flow  of  words  that  supplies 
the  sonorous  vocalization  of  the  reciter.  This  rhetorical  or 
recitative  verbosity  is,  as  Huxley  has  justly  remarked,  "  the 
most  deadly  of  literary  sins."  What  O'Donovan  has  said  of 
the  "  Three  Fragments  "  is  equally  true  of  the  "  War  of  the 
Gael."  "  The  more  lengthened  stories  and  details  of  battles  are 
curious  specimens  of  Irish  composition.  Some  of  them  have 
evidently  been  abstracted  from  long  bardic  descriptions,  and 
are  interspersed  with  the  wonderful,  the  wild,  the  supernatural, 
and  the  incredible."^ 

On  the  other  hand,  judging  from  the  Homilies  which  have 
reached  us,  the  preaching  of  the  Word  was  singularly  free 
from  the  vicious  methods  of  the  bardic  reciters.  The  sermons 
are  masculine  in  thought  and  treatment,  level  with  the  subject 
and  the  occasion,  marked  by  simplicity  and  sincerity,  and  free 
from  vapid  banalities  and  frigid  ecstasy. 

After  the  Northmen  built  their  fort  on  King's  Island,  at 
Limerick,  and  placed  their  ships  on  the  Upper  Shannon,  they 
harried  the  country  in  every  direction.  The  brunt  of  the 
attack,  however,  fell  on  the  Dal  Cais  in  Thomond.  The  Norse 
occupied  a  good  strategic  position  at  Tradry  (Bunnratty),  on 
the  Shannon,  in  Clare,  about  six  miles  from  Limerick,  where 
tliey  built  a  strong  fort.  Mahon,  and  his  brother,  Brian, 
retired  into  the  woods  and  fastnesses  of  North  Clare  and 
South  Galway,  from  which  they  carried  on  a  guerilla  war- 
fare for  some  years.  Mahon,  wearied  out  at  length,  made  a 
truce  with  the  Northmen,  but  Brian  persisted  in  continuing 
liostilities.  He  was  at  length  reduced  to  the  greatest  straits. 
Mahon  then  came  to  his  aid,  and  they  called  a  meeting  of 
Llie  Dal  Cais,  and  put  the  question  of  peace  or  war  to  the 

*  Three  FraameTits,  Prcf  ice. 


294  EARLY   IRISH   HISTORY. 

« 

assembled  tribesmen.    Every  voice  was  for  war.    A  hosting  was 
then  made  into  Kerry,  where  the  Eoganachts,  and  the  men 
of  Muskeriy  in  Cork,  joined  them,  and  the  Northmen  in  those 
parts  were  driven  out.     Mahon  then  marched  to  Cashel,  and 
took  possession,  and    became  King    of    Munster.     This   was 
probably  in  964.     Sitric  of  Limerick  then  summoned  a  great 
muster  of  his  supporters.     These  included  Gael  as    well    as 
Norsemen,  "for  there  were  many  Gael  who  stood  by  him,  not 
so    much   through   love   of    him,    as   through  hatred   of   the 
Dal  Cais."^     Foremost  among  these  were  Donovan,  lord  of  the 
Ui  Fidhgeinate,    and  Maelmuadh  (Molloy),  the  son  of  Bran, 
lord  of  Desmond.    Ivar  marched  with  his  forces  towards  Cashel 
to  crush  the  Dal  Caia.    When  Mahon  heard  of  this  he  sum- 
moned his  tribesmen  to  a  council  of  war,  and  they  determined 
to  march  to  Cnamhcoill,  near  Tipperary.     At  this  moment  an 
outlying  branch  of  the  Dal  Cais — the  Dealbhna  from  Delvin  in 
Westmeath —  arrived  in  the  nick  of  time  to  aid  their  clansmen 
— one   hundred  well-armed   men,  under  Cathal,  the   son   of 
Feredach,   "  the  king  soldier   and  champion  of  Erin."     This 
was  welcomed  as  an  omen  of  victory.     The  decisive  battle  was 
then  fought  (968)  at  Sulchoit,  about  2h  miles  north-west  of  Tip- 
perary.    It  lasted  from  sunrise  to  mid-day,  and  ended  in  the 
complete  rout  of  the  Norsemen  and  their  allies.    The  fort  and 
town  of  Limerick,  with  their  rich  spoils,  fell  into  the  hands  oi 
the  victors.     The  prisoners  were  then  collected  on  the  hill  of 
Saingel  (Singland),  near  Limerick,  and  "  every  one  that  was  fit 
for  war  was  put  to  death,  and  every  one  that  was  fit  for  a  slave 
was  enslaved."     Mahon  followed  up  this  victory,  and  defeated 
the  enemy  in  subsequent  engagements,  and  took  the  hostages 
of  Munster,  in  particular  those  of  Donovan  and  Molloy.     Ivar 
escaped   with  Olaf,  the  son  of  Olaf,  to  the  East — i.e.,  Wales, 
where,   however,    he   did   not   succeed   in    making   good    his 
footing.     He  returned  in   a   year's  time   with   a   great   fleet, 
entered  the  western  harbour  of  Limerick,  took  possession  of  the 
larger  islands  of  the  Shannon,  and  fixed  his  headquarters  at 
Inis  Scattery.     Shortly  afterwards  the  conspiracy  was  hatched 
between   him,    Donovan,    and   Molloy    (who   represented   the 
claims  and  hatreds  of  the  line  of  Eogan  Mor),  which  ended  in 
the  assassination   of   Mahon,     The   details  as  to  the  murder 

*  Todd  IVar  of  the  Gael,  cv't 


BRIAN   BORU.  205 

given  in  the  "  War  of  the  Gael"  are  confused  and  contradic- 
tory and  we  shall  not  reproduce  them  here.  Todd  observes 
that  the  narrative  in  the  "  War  of  the  Gael "  bears  internal 
evidence  both  of  interpolation  and  mutilation. 

A  probable  version,  in  our  view,  is,  that  Mahon  went  from 
Bruree  to  meet  MoUoy  in  Desmond,  and  that  Molloy  sent 
forward  an  escort  to  meet  him  to  the  border  of  the  county 
of  Cork.  The  escort  lay  in  wait  for  Mahon.  The  road 
from  Bruree  to  Mallow  and  South  Munster  passed  through 
Kilmallock,  and  across  Sliabh  Caein,  through  a  pass  known 
as  the  Red  Gap  (Bearna  Dhearg).  According  to  tradition, 
it  was  in  this  pass  that  Mahon  was  assassinated  by  the 
escort.  Mahon  was  probably  proceeding  on  a  peaceful  mission, 
and  had  the  guarantee  and  protection  of  the  Bishop  of  Cork, 
who  promptly  excommunicated  all  persons  who  were  concerned 
in  the  murder.  We  would  infer  that  the  motive  for  tbe 
murder  was  revenge,  not  policy.  The  conspirators  gained 
nothing  by  the  crime.  Brian,  who  took  the  place  of  Mahon, 
*'  was  not  an  e^cr  in  the  place  of  a  stone  nor  a  wisp  of  hay  in 
the  place  of  a  shillelagh."  He  forthwith  demanded  that  Molloy 
should  be  given  up,  and  announced  that  no  cwmhal  or  eric 
would  be  taken.  It  was  an  intertribal  homicide,  and,  as  we 
have  seen,  he  was  not  bound  to  take  an  eric,  but  might  insist 
on  life  for  life.  The  Dal  Cais  marched  against  Molloy,  and  a 
pitched  battle  was  fought  at  Bealach  Leachta,  somewhere 
between  Ardpatrick,  in  Limerick,  and  Glanworth,  in  Cork,  in 
which  Molloy  was  slain  and  his  army  routed.*'  Brian  next 
attacked  Donovan,  whose  daughter  was  married  to  Ivar  of 
Waterford,  and  who  was  in  alliance  with,  and  sustained  by  the 
Norsemen.  Donovan  was  defeated  and  slain,  and  Brian  be- 
came the  undisputed  King  of  ail  Munster — in  978,  two  years 
before  the  accession  of  Maelseachlainn  11, 

The  facts  recorded  in  our  annals,  about  which  there  is  no 
controversy,  prove  conclusively  that  the  Northmen  were  never 
conquerors  of  Munster,  nor  present  there  in   overwhelming 

^  In  this  bloody  engagement  (Bealach  Leachta),  Murrough,  the  eldest  son  o* 
Brian,  by  Mor,  daughter  of  O'liine  (Ua  h'Eidhin)  Prince  of  Hy  Fiachre-Aedhne, 
in  Coimact,  made  his  first  campaign,  and  although  but  thirteen  years  old,  engaged 
hnnd  to  hand  with  Maelmuidh,  and  slew  this  murderer  of  his  uncle.— O'Halloran, 
History  II.,  236. 

Brian  had  probably  married  Mor  during  the  time  of  his  early  struggles  in 
North  Clare  and  Soutli  Connact. 


296  EARLY   IRISH    HISTORY. 

numbers.  The  capture  of  King's  Island,  which,  without  a 
fleet  of  boats,  could  only  be  attacked  by  a  ford  across  the 
Shannon,  and  the  defeat  of  the  Norsemen  at  Sulchoit,  though 
they  were  aided  by  two  powerful  chieftains  like  Molloy  and 
Donovan,  is  sufficient  to  disprove  the  legend  we  have  quoted 
from  "  The  War  of  the  Gael."  The  raids  of  the  Norsemen  in 
Munster  were  of  the  same  character  as  their  raids  elsewhere, 
and  there  was  no  effective  occupation  of  any  territory  in 
Munster  except  in  the  immediate  vicinity  of  Waterford  and 
Limerick,  which  places  were,  no  doubt,  used  to  some  extent 
as  trading  stations.  We  must  therefore  reject  the  bombastic 
description  in  the  bardic  narratives,  which  were  manifestly 
fabricated  to  magnify  the  services  of  the  Dal  Cais  and  to 
glorify  the  hero,  Brian  Boru, 

Maelseachlainn  II.  became  ard  righ,  as  we  have  stated  in 
980.  His  accession  was  peaceable.  The  two  rig  dainna  repre- 
senting the  Northern  and  Southern  branches  of  the  Ui  Neill, 
who  had  prior  claims,  had  been  slain  in  battle  in  977  by  Olaf, 
the  son  of  Sitric.  Maelseachlainn  began  his  reign  with  a  great 
victory  over  the  Northmen  at  Tara  (980),  and  afterwards 
defeated  the  foreigners  of  Ath  Cliath  and  the  Western  Isles 
with  great  slaughter,  killing  Ragnall,  the  son  of  Olaf,  the 
rig  damna  of  Dublin.  Olaf  then  went  over  sea  to  lona,  where 
he  died,  "  after  penance  and  a  good  life."  Maelseachlainn  soon 
after  made  a  great  hosting  with  the  King  of  Ulidia  against  the 
foreigners  of  Ath  Cliath.  They  beleagured  them  for  three 
days  and  three  nights,  and  brought  thence  the  hostages  of 
Erin,  including  Domhnal  Claen,^  King  of  Leinster,  and  the 
guarantees  (ecipib)  of  the  Ui  Neill,  besides.  And  they  got 
their  full  demand  from  the  foreigners,  to  wit,  two  thousand 
kine,  with  jewels  and  treasures,  and,  moreover,  with  the  full 
freedom  of  the  Ui  Neill  from  tribute,  from  the  Shannon  to 
the  sea.  'Tis  then  that  Maelseachlainn  proclaimed  the  famous 
rising  (ef  eipgi),^  when  he  said,  "  Let  every  one  of  the  Gael  who 
is  in  the  foreigners'  territory  come  forth  to  his  own  country 


^  O'Donovan  says  that  this  is  the  first  mention  of  a  Christian  Norseman  in  our 
annals.  Ware  thought  the  Norse  of  Dublin  entered  Christianity  about  930,  A.  D. 
The  movement  towards  the  Faith  began,  no  doubt,  as  early  as  the  intermarriages. 
The  fii'st  Ostman  bishop  was  consecrated  in  1054  at  Canterbury,  to  the  archbishop 
of  which  see  the  succeeding  Ostman  bishops  owed  obedience. 

*  ereit<5i.  The  Four  Masters  have  poti  udccAj^^-eArS^TS,  i.e.,  published  a 
proclamation,  so  eAf5At)te  is  probably  the  correct  word. 


BRIAN    BORU.  297 

for  peace  and  comfort.     That  captivity  was  the  Babylonian 
captivity  of  Erin.     'Twas  next  to  the  captivity  of  helL"^ 

In  982  Maelseachlainn,  in  conjunction  with  Gluniarn,  the 
son  of  Olaf,  King  of  Ath  Cliath,  raided  Leinster.     The  presence 
of  Gluiniarn  may  have  been  voluntary.     He  was  closely  related 
to  Maelseachlainn ;  and  though  these  relationships  did  not  count 
for  much  in  Erin,  the  connection  would  probably  have  been 
sufficient  to  set  him  moving  against  Leinster. i°     The  inter- 
marriages between   the  royal  families  of  the  Gael   and   the 
Northmen  at  this  point  are  inextricably  confused,  and  it  must 
suffice  here  to  say  that  Donnflaith,  the  daughter,  or  grand- 
daughter, of  Muirchertach  of  the  leather  cloaks,  was  wedded  first 
to  Domhnall,  son  of  Donncadh,  ard  righ,  to  vrhom  she  bore 
Maelseachlainn  II.,  and  secondly  to  Olaf  Cuaran,  to  whom  she 
bore  Gluniarn.     Domhnall,  the  King  of  Leinster,  was  also  on 
his  side  supported  by  a  contingent  of  Norsemen  from  Water- 
ford,  under  the  command  seemingly  of  Gilla  Patrick,  the  son 
of  Ivar.     The  Leinstermen  were  routed  and  Gilla  Patrick  slain, 
and  many  perished,  "  both  by  drowning  and  killing." 

In  984  Maelseachlainn  raided  Connact,  destroyed  the  islands 
{i.e.,  Crannogs)  and  reduced  Magh  Ai  to  ashes. 

In  990  Maelseachlainn  was  victorious  over  the  men  of 
Thomond,  killing  six  hundred,  defeated  the  united  forces 
of  Leinster,  Munster  and  a  Norse  contingent,  and  took  Domhnal, 
King  of  Leinster,  prisoner. 

In  992  he  raided  Connact  again  and  took  from  it  "  the 
greatest  boroma  that  a  king  had  ever  brought."  Brian  advanced 
with  the  men  of  Munster  and  Connact  to  L.  Ennel,  near  Mul- 
lingar,  "  but  he  did  not  take  a  cow  or  a  prisoner,  but  escaped  by 
secret  flight "  on  the  approach  of  the  Ard  Righ. 

In  996  Maelseachlainn  burned  Aenach  Tete  (Nenagh), 
plundered  Urmumhan  (E.  Munster)^^  and  routed  Brian  and 
the  men  of  Munster  in  general.     In  this  year  too  lie  carried 


»  Tigernach,  Hcv.  Celt,  xvii.,  142.  (Stokes). 

">  Todd,  War  of  (he  Gael,  cxlviii. 

*^  Thomond  was  originally  confined  to  North  Tipperary  and  North-East 
Limerick,  and  Urmumhan  or  East  Munster  lay  to  the  east  of  this,  and  is  not  to  be 
confounded  with  the  baronies  of  Upper  and  Lower  Ormond,  to  which  the  name  was 
ignorantly  transferred  in  the  usual  way.  Clare  was  afterwards  added  to  Thomond 
by  the  Dalcais  as  Sword-land.  Finally,  according  to  Keating,  Thomond  extended 
from  Leim  Chouchulaiun  (Loop  Head)  to  Bealach  Mor  (Ballaghmore,  Upper  Ossory), 
and  from  Sliabli  Echtghe  (Slieve  Aughty)  to  Sliabh  Ecbhlinue,  now  Sleibhte  FeidU- 
limidh,  in  Tipperary,  te^BAfi  rt&  5ce<i)(c,  26L 


298  EARL'S    IRISH   HISTORY. 

off  from  the  foreigners  of  Ath-Gliath  by  force  the  ring  of  Toinar 
and  the  sword  of  Carlus.^^ 

We  have  traced  thus  far  an  outline  of  the  doings  of 
Maelseachlainn  during  the  first  14  years  of  his  reign  and  shall 
now  turn  our  attention  to  Brian.  After  he  became  King  of 
Munster  on  the  death  of  Mahon  (976)  he  commenced  by  the 
subjugation  of  the  Decies  and  took  the  hostages  of  Munster 
"  and  of  the  churches  lest  they  should  receive  rebels  or  thieves 
into  sanctuary."  Ossory  was  next  subdued  and  Gilla  Patrick, 
the  king,  taken  prisoner  and  forced  to  give  hostages.  Brian  then 
marched  into  Leinster  and  took  hostages  from  the  two  kings, 
Domhnall  Claen,  King  of  the  Eastern,  and  Tuathal,  King  of 
the  Western  plain  of  the  Liffey.  This  was  in  984,  eight  years 
after  the  murder  of  Mahon,  and  he  thus  became  King,  not  of 
Munster  alone,  but  of  all  Leath  Mogha.  According  to  our 
annals  Connact  next  engaged  his  attention.  He  assembled  a 
great  fleet  of  300  boats  on  Lough  Derg,  rowed  up  the  Shannon 
to  Lough  Ree,  raided  Meath  to  Uisneach,  plundered  Brefni 
(Leitrimand  Cavan),  and  finally  "  did  great  evil  "  in  Connacht, 
killing  Murghes,  the  rig  damna.  It  is  noticeable  that  a  con- 
tingent from  the  foreigners  of  Waterford  was  aiding  him  in  this 
foray. 

Maelseachlain  and  Brian  were  now  face  to  face,  and  a  conflict 
appeared  to  be  inevitable  and  imminent  between  them.  This, 
however,  was  for  the  time  avoided,  and  a  treaty  of  peace  and 
alliance  was  made  between  them  (999)  at  Plein  Pattoigi,  on  the 
shore  of  Lough  Ree.  All  hostages  in  the  custody  of  Maelseach- 
lainn,  whether  of  Munster  or  Leinster,  Ui  Feachrach  Aidhne 
or  Ui  Maine,  or  of  the  foreigners  (of  the  South  ?),  were  to  be 
surrendered  to  Brian,  and  Maelseachlainn  was  to  be  recognised 
as  sovereign  of  Leath  Chuinln  "  without  war  or  tresspass  of 
Brian." 

According  to  the  Annals  of  Ulster  and  the  Four  Masters, 
Maelseachlainn  and  Brian  then  joined  their  forces  and  marched 

^'^  We  extract  the  following  particulars  from  Haliday : — The  Godar  were 
princes,  judges  and  priests.  The  emblem  of  the  military  jurisdiction  was  the 
sword,  of  the  sacerdotal  dignity  a  massive  ring,  usually  kept  in  the  temple  of  Thor, 
but  sometimes  attached  by  a  smaller  ring  to  the  armilla  of  the  Godi.  Witnesses 
were  sworn  on  the  "  holy  "  ring.  There  is  a  splendid  specimen  of  a  large  ring 
with  a  small  ring;  attached  to  it  now  in  the  museum  of  the  Royal  Irish  Acaflemj-. 
It  was  found  in  Clare.  The  last  notice  of  the  sword  of  Carlus  is  that  it  was  taken 
by  Mael  na-mbo  in  1088.  The  ring  was  the  famous  "  collar  of  gold  won  from  tlie 
proud  invader,"  of  Moore. — Haliday,  Scand.  King,  127. 


BRIAN   BORU.  299 

against  the  foreigners  of  Ath  Cliath  (998),  "  and  carried  ofF  the 
hostages  and  the  best  part  of  their  valuables  from  them." 
They  do  not  mention  the  Treaty  of  Plein  Pattoigi,  the  par- 
ticulars as  to  which  we  have  taken  from  The  Wars  of  the  Gael. 
Whether  these  particulars  are  accurate  or  not,  it  is  evident  that 
some  such  arrangement  preceded  the  attack  on  Ath  Cliath. 
The  Northmen  now  joined  the  men  of  Leinster  and  both  deter, 
mined  to  fight  for  freedom.  Brian  then  marched  into  Leinster, 
where  he  was  joined  by  Maelseachlainn  and  advanced  to  Glen- 
mama,  near  Danlavin,  in  Wicklow,  on  his  road  to  Dublin.  A 
fierce  battle  was  fought  there.  The  Norsemen  and  the 
Leinster  men  were  routed  with  red  slaughter,  and  the  allied 
forces  entered  Dublin,  and,  wo  are  surprised  to  hear,  found 
there  "  gold,  silver,  and  captives  " — prizes  of  war — which  they 
carried  off.  They  burned  the  fort  and  expelled  the  King — 
Sitric,  the  son  of  Olaf.  In  the  following  year,  however,  Brian, 
in  whose  "  half  ''  the  fort  was  situated,  granted  them  terms  of 
peace  and  took  their  hostages.  Brian  had  evidently  for  a  long 
time  aspired  to,  and  determined  to  secure,  the  overlordship  of 
Erin.  In  furtherance  of  this  ambition  he  now  cemented  his 
alliance  with  the  Northmen  by  matrimonial  ties.  He  gave  his 
daughter  in  marriage  to  Sitric,  and,  according  to  some  accounts, 
himself  married  Gormlaith,  the  mother  of  Sitric.  The  improba- 
bilities of  this  story  are,  however,  so  great  that  we  think  it  may 
be  safely  rejected  as  a  bardic  invention  in  connection  with  a 
romance  or  ursgeul,  dealing  with  the  cause  of  the  Battle  of 
Clontarf,  Gormlaith  was  the  daughter  of  Marchadh,  the  son 
of  Finn,  chieftain  of  OfFaly,  and  the  sister  of  Maelmordha.  who 
became  King  of  Leinster.  She  was  married  first  to  Olaf 
Cuaran,  to  whom  she  bore  Sitric,  and  secondly  to  Maelseach- 
lainn II.,  to  whom  she  bore  Conchobar.  As  her  second  husband 
was  then  alive  she  could  not  contract  a  civil  or  a  religious 
marriage  with  Brian  or  anybody  else.  Moreover,  Brian's  second 
"  one  wife,"  Dubhcobbtaigh,  the  daughter  of  Cathal  O'Connor, 
King  of  Connact,  was  then  alive.  Her  death  is  recorded  by  the 
Four  Masters  at  1009,  and  Brian  had  wars  enough  on  hands 
without  bringing  an  old  campaigner  to  Kincora  to  fight  for  the 
overlordship  of  it  with  his  lawful  wife,  who,  seemingly,  remained 
with  him  until  her  death.  Moreover,  such  an  outrage  would 
have  alienated  the  powerful  clans  of  the  Sil  Muireadhaigh,  the 
clansmen  of  the   "  one  wife,"  and  probably  provoked  immediate 


SOO  EARLY    IRISH   HISTORY 

hostilities.  The  Four  Masters,  however,  state  that  she  was  the 
mother  of  Sitric,  of  Donncadh,  the  son  of  Brian,  and  of 
Conch obar,  the  son  of  Maelseachlainn,  and  add  :  It  was  this 
Gormlaith  that  ^^  took  the  three  leaps  of  which  it  was  said : — 

Gormlaith  took  three  leaps, 

Which  no  woman  shall  take  to  the  day  of  judgment. 
A  leap  at  Ath  Cliath  (Olaf),     A  leap  at  Tara  (Maelseachlainn), 
A  leap  at  Cashel  off  the  goblets  higher  than  both  (of  Ca6) 
(Four  Masters,  a.d.  1030). 

Brian's  son  Donncadh  had,  as  we  shall  see,  an  important 
command  in  1014,  and  before  the  Battle  of  Clontarf  was  de- 
tached to  plunder  Leinster.  If  he  was  the  son  of  Gormlaith  he 
could  have  been  then,  at  the  most,  only  13  years  old.  There  ia 
no  evidence  to  which  any  importance  can  be  attached  that 
the  Gaelic  chieftains  could  put  away  or  repudiate  their  wives. 
and  marry  again  with  religious  solemnities.  It  is  highly 
probable  that  there  were  in  Erin,  as  elsewhere,  marriages 
within  the  forbidden  degrees,  as  the  discipline  of  the  Church 
was  unsettled  in  the  matter  until  the  fourth  Council  of 
Lateran  (1215.)  There  may  have  been  more  serious  irregu- 
larities than  the  marriage  of  cousins  amongst  the  foreigners 
in  Dublin,  Waterford  and  Limerick  ;  but  that  the  early  Church 
ever  sanctioned  divorces  a  vinculo,  or  that  there  ever  was  any 
civil  recognition  of  such  divorces  we  utterly  disbelieve. 

Having  secured  the  submission  and  alliance  of  the  North  men, 
Brian  assembled  a  great  force,  with  contingents  from  South 
Connact,  Ossory,  Leinster,  and  the  Norsemen  of  Dublin  and 
marched  towards  Tara.  This  was  an  invasion  of  "  Conn's 
Half,"  and  is  described  by  our  annalists  as  the  "  first  turning  of 
Brian  and  the  men  of  Connact  against  Maelseachlainn."  The 
main  advance  was  preceded  by  a  force  of  Norse  cavalry,  which 
was  met  by  Maelseachlainn  and  cut  to  pieces.  Brian  then  re- 
treated without  fighting,  plundering,  or  burning.  He  then 
formed  an  alliance  with  the  foreigners  of  Waterford,  and 
organised  the  forces  of  Leath  Mogha  and  South  Connact. 
Against  this  combination  and  organisation,  the  Southern 
Ui  Neill,  unaided,  were  powerless ;  unless  they  were  supported 

'^  The  nr,ir/pi(l  is  too  long  to  he  given  here.  It  represents  Cormlaith  aa  then 
installed  as  Qneen  at  Kincora  and  inciting  her  brother  Maelmordha  to  make  war 
on  Brian.  It  will  be  found  in  Keating  (Mahony)  399.  We  do  not  think  there  is 
any  suggestion  of  impropriety,  as  Todd  conjectured  in  the  use  of  the  word 
*'  leap  "  here. 


BRIAN   BORU.  301 

by  the  Northern  Branch  submission  to  Brian  was  inevitable. 
]\j  aelseachiainn  sent  Gilla  GomgallUa  Sleibhin,  the  Chief  Bard 
of  Ulster,  to  his   kinsmen   to  appeal   for   help.      A    metrical 
account  of  his  mission  is  given  by  the  author  of  the  "  War  of 
the   Gael."      It   contains   a   fervid    exhortation   to    Aedh   Ua 
Neill,  King  of  Aileach,  and  Eocaid,  King  of  Ulidia,  and  Cathal, 
King  of  Connact,  to  rescue  Tara  from  the  grasp  of  Brian,  and  to 
unite  the  I'ace  of  Eremon  against  the  usurpation  of  the  line  of 
Heber.       Aedh  Ua  Neill  refused  to  help,  and  said  that  when 
the  Chieftains  of  the  North  were  Kings  of  Tara  they  were  able 
to  defend  it  without  applying  for  external  aid,  and   that  he 
would  not  risk  the  lives  of  his  clansmen  for  the  sake  of  securing 
the  sovereignty  of  Erin  for  another  man.      On  receiving  this 
reply,  Maelseachlainn  went  in  person  to  Aedh  and  ofiered  to 
abdicate  in  his  favour,  and  give  him  hostages.      Aedh  received 
this  proposal  favourably,  but  said  it  was  necessary  to  consult 
his  clansmen.     He  then  summoned  the  Cinel  Eogain  to  consider 
the  proposal.     The  tribesmen  voted  unanimously  against  fight- 
ing the  Dal  Cais.     Aedh  then  requested  that  the  question  of 
peace  or  war  should  be  considered  in  secret  session.     It  was 
then  resolved  not  to  accede  to  Maelseachlainn's  request  unless 
he  would  agree  to  cede  to  the  Cinel-Eogain.     "  Oue  half  of  the 
men  of  Meath,  one  half  of  the  territory  of  Tara."  i.e.  half  of  the 
possessions    of    the    Southern     Branch.       On    hearing    this, 
Maelseachlainn  left  in  great  wrath,  summoned  a  meeting  of  his 
tribesmen,  and  placed  the  matter  before  them.      They  resolved 
not  to  cede  half  their  territory,  but  to  submit  to  Brian  without 
fio-htinsr.      Maelseachlainn  then  "  went  to  the  house ''  of  Brian, 
made  submission,  and  offered  to  give  him  hostages.     The  effect 
of  all  this  was  that  the  status  of  Maelseachlainn  was  reduced  to 
that  of  a  provincial  King,  and  in  the  brief  words  of  Tigernach, 
"  Brian  reigned  "  in  his  stead. ^* 

A  great  deal  of  warmth  has  been  introduced  into  this  part 
of  our  story.  Some  represent  Maelseachlainn  and  some  Brian  as 
the  true  patriot,  who  deserves  our  admiration  and  sympathy,  and 
Brian  is  charged  with  treachery.  In  our  view  neither  of  them 
did  anything  which  the  other  would  not  have  done  in  his  place, 
nor  did  either  of  them  do  anything  which  modern  statecraft, 
as  practised  amongst  the  most  civilised  nations,  could  afford  to 

^*  1001  A.D.  Brian  Boroma  regnat.  The  Four  Masters  regard  the  reiga 
as  commencing  in  1002  A.D. 


302  EARLY   IRISH   HISTORY. 

criticise  very  severcl}'.  The  one  thing  needful  at  the  time  was 
to  proclaim  the  extirpation  of  tribalism,  and  to  establish  the 
brotherhood  and  equality  of  all  the  men  of  Erin.  Unfortunately 
for  Erin  the  chieftains  were  warriors  rather  than  Statesmen, 
and  fighting  amongst  themselves,  they  left  to  the  future  historian 
the  melancholy  duty  of  recording  how  a  nation  of  brave  men 
surrendered  their  liberty  without  ever  fighting  with  their 
whole  strength  one  pitched  battle  in  its  defence  For  this,  aa 
we  shall  see  from  this  point  onward,  the  tribalism  and  political 
incapacity  of  the  chieftains  must  be  held  responsible.  There 
were,  however,  extenuating  circumstances. 


[    303     3 


CHAPTER  XXI. 

CLONTARF. 

AFTER  the  submission  of  the  Southern  Ui  Neill,  Brian  pre- 
pared for  the  struggle  with  the  North.  He  first  proceeded 
to  Connact  with  the  forces  of  Leath  Mogha  and  the 
usual  contingent  of  foreigners  and  obtained  hostages  without 
opposition.  He  then  marched  to  Dundalk,  reinforced  by  the 
men  of  Connact,  intending  to  penetrate  Ulster  through  the 
eastern  passes.  But  the  men  of  Ulster  stood  on  guard  and 
would  not  permit  him  to  pass  onwards,  and  he  retired  "  without 
booty,  spoil,  or  pledges,"  The  North,  however,  did  not  remain 
united.  Shortly  afterwards  a  fierce  contest  arose  between 
Aedh,  King  of  Aileach,  and  Eocaid,  King  of  Ulidia,  and  a 
battle  was  fought  at  Craibh  Talcha  in  the  north  of  Down.,  in 
which  the  Ulidians  were  routed.  Eocaid,  his  brother,  and  his 
two  sons  were  amongst  the  slain.  Aedh  was  also  amongst  the 
slain.  Brian  now  advanced  again  against  Ulster  as  far  as 
Ballysodare  in  Sligo,  intending  to  make  a  royal  circuit  of  Erin, 
but  he  was  again  stopped  by  the  Ui  Neill  of  the  North,  mainly 
by  the  Cinel-Conaill.  H'"  then  marched  to  Armagh,  where  he 
stayed  a  week  and  left  ^0  oz  of  gold  on  the  altar,  and  caused 
to  be  entered  in  the  Great  Book  (Bibliotheca)  his  recognition 
of  the  claims  formulated  in  the  Liber  Angueli.  He  obtained 
the  hostages  of  Ulidia,  and  probably  of  all  the  North,  except 
the  Cinel-Conaill,  but  failed  to  make  the  circuit  of  Erin.  This 
he  accomplished  in  1006,  crossing  the  Erne  at  Eas  Rundh,  and 
marching  through  Tir-Conaill  and  Tir-Eogain,  and  crossing  the 
BannatFeartas  Camsa  (the  Cutts)  below  Coleraine  into  Dalradia 
and  Dalaradia  reached  Castlekieran,  near  Kells,  about 
Lammas-tide.  He  did  not,  however,  according  to  the  Four 
Masters,  succeed  in  obtaining  the  hostages  of  the  Cinel-Conaill 
or  Cinel-Eogain.  His  army  then  separated,  "  the  foreigners 
going  by  sea  round  to  their  fortress."  In  1011,  leading  the  men 
of  Munster,  Leinster,  and  the  Ui  Neill  of  the  South,  and  joined 
by  the  Cinel-Eogain,  Brian  invaded  Tir-Conaill  and  carried  ofi* 
three  hundred  captives  and  a  great  prey  of  cattle  as  well  as  the 
chieftain   Maelruanaidh   ua  Maeldoraidh  in  submission    as    a 


304  EARLY   IRISH   HISTORY. 

hostage  to  Cenn-Coracdh.  It  was  only  after  this  that  Brian 
could  be  regarded  as  an  Ard  Righ  without  opposition.  But  in 
reality  his  title  was  never  admitted  by  the  North,  and  they  did 
not  obey  his  summons  to  the  field  at  Clontarf.  This  seems  to 
indicate  that  he  did  not  then  hold  their  hostages.  Now  it  must 
not  be  supposed  that  all  the  warlike  energy  of  the  time  was 
consumed  in  these  operations.  On  the  contrary,  there  were 
countless  raids  and  combats  between  inferior  chieftains  in  all 
parts,  the  particulars  whereof  will  be  found  in  our  annals. 
Brian  now  began  to  build  numerous  forts,  and  lifted  the  boroma 
"  with  great  severity."  The  Leinster  men,  joined  by  the 
foreigners,  rose  against  him.  Brian  then  led  the  men  of 
Munster  to  Sliabh  Mairge,  near  Carlow,  and  plundered 
Leinster  to  the  suburbs  of  Dublin,  to  which  he  laid  siege.  He 
remained  before  it  until  Christmas  (1013),  when  he  was  forced 
to  retire  from  want  of  provisions,  intending  to  return  in  the 
spring.  Both  sides  then  prepared  for  the  decisive  struggle, 
which  took  place  on  Good  Friday  (1014)  at  Clontarf,  within 
view  of  the  ramparts  of  Ath  Cliath.  It  was  by  no  means  a 
conflict  between  the  Gael  and  the  Northmen.  The  Gael  were 
divided.  The  men  of  Ulster,  Ulidia,  and  North  Connact  stood 
aloof.  The  men  of  Leinster  and  Ossory  fought  shoulder  to 
shoulder  with  the  Norsemen,  So  Brian  had  only  the  Dal  Cais, 
the  men  of  South  Munster  and  South  Connact,  and,  we  will  add, 
the  men  of  Meath  under  Maelseachlainn,  though  some  writers 
say  that  they  stood  aloof  on  the  day  of  battle.  The  Northmen 
had,  in  addition  to  their  Gaelic  allies,  large  contingents  from 
their  kinsmen  over  sea.  "  The  foreigners  of  the  west  of 
Europe,"  say  the  Four  Masters,  "  assembled  against  Brian  and 
Maelseachlainn  and  brought  with  them  ten  hundred  men  with 
coats  of  mail."  Numbers  even  approximately  exact  cannot  be 
given,  but  we  conjecture  that  there  were  on  each  side  from  six 
to  eight  thousand  fighting  men.  The  fort  of  the  Northmen 
stood  on  the  south  side  of  the  Liffey,  which  flows  from  west  to 
east,  on  the  spot  where  now  stands  the  Castle  of  Dublin.  It 
communicated  with  the  Fine  Gall  on  the  north  side  of  the 
river  by  means  of  the  "  hurdle  ford  "  and  a  bridge  which  was 
afterwards  known  as  Dubhgall's  Bridge.  On  the  south  side  of 
the  river  the  tide  came  up  over  College  Green  almost  to  the 
precincts  of  the  fort.  On  the  north  side,  about  two  miles  north 
of  the  Liffey,  was  the  little  river  Tolka.     It  now  flows,  roughly 


CLONTARP.  305 

speaking,  from  west  to  east  under  Ballybough  and  Newcomen 
Bridges  into  Dublin  Bay.  About  four  miles  north  of  the  Tolka, 
within  the  Fine  Gall,  are  the  Hill  and  Harbour  of  Howth, 
where,  we  suggest,  the  foreigners  landed  before  advancing  to 
attack  Brian.  There  are  no  reliable  materials  available  for 
giving  a  detailed  account  of  the  battle.  We  shall  state  briefly 
the  conclusions,  few  in  number,  which  we  have  drawn  with 
much  diffidence  from  the  annals  and  the  bardic  narratives- 
The  scene  of  the  fighting  lay  between  the  Lifley  and  the  Tolka, 
behind  which  the  forces  of  Brian  were  marshalled,  The  Dal 
Cais  and  the  men  of  South  Connact  held  the  line  of  the  little 
river.  The  men  of  South  Munster  were  next,  while  the  men 
of  Meath,  under  Maelseachlainn,  lay  away  to  the  south  towards 
Kilmainham.  We  are  unable  to  accept  the  view  that  the 
Norsemen  landed  from  their  ships  on  the  strand  of  Dublin 
Bay  under  the  beard  of  Brian.  Nor  are  we  impressed  with  the 
importance  of  the  fact  that  the  full  tide  on  Good  Friday,  the 
24)th  of  April,  1014  (a  neap  tide),  coincided  nearly  with  sunrise 
along  the  Olontarf  shore  and  was  full  about  5.30  a.m.,  and  the 
evening  tide  full  at  5.55  p.m.  The  ships  of  the  Norsemen 
carried  from  50  to  100  men,  say  an  average  of  80  each,  and 
were  propelled  by  oars  or  used  sails  under  favourable  wind 
conditions.  Thus  100  ships  would  carry  8,000  men,  who  would 
be  all  available  for  fighting  if  the  ships  were  beached.'  Now 
the  foreshore  between  the  Tolka  and  the  Liffey  is  accurately 
described  by  Dalton  as  "  an  area  which  is  at  the  pleasure  of 
the  tide,  alternately  a  pool  of  muddy  brine  and  a  surface  of 
oozy  strand,"  ^  and  it  does  not  rec^uire  very  deep  militar}' 
knowledge  to  understand  that  landing  8,000  men  from  100 
ships  in  the  presence  of  an  active  and  vigilant  foe  on  such  a  fore- 
shore would  be  a  very  hazardous  operation,  if  it  were  at  all  prac- 
ticable. We  have  very  little  doubt,  therefore,  that  the  Northmen 
made  Howth  their  base,  and  advancing  in  suitable  formation 
deployed  on  the  Tolka  at  sunrise.*     They  attacked  at  once,  pro- 

^  See,  however,  the  interesting  Report  of  Todd  and  Haughton,  Royal  Irish 
Academy's  Proceedings  (1857),  485. 

^  Daltou,  History  of  Dublin. 

*  The  Booh  of  Leinster  in  the  List  of  Kings  states  that  Brian  **  was  killed  ?')i 
the  Battle  of  the  Weir  of  Clontarf  by  the  Leiustermen  and  the  foreigners."  This 
weir  was  on  the  Tolka,  probably  at  Ballybough  Bridge,  and  the  battle  was 
commonly  called  "  Cath  Coradh  Cliiana  Tarbh, — The  Battle  of  the  Weir  of 
Clontarf."  Tarlough,  the  grandson  of  Brian,  is  said  to  have  been  drowned  at  this 
weir,  holding  in  his  grasp  two,  or  some  said  three  Norsemen,  who  were  also 
drowned  there.     Todd,  War  of  the  OaA,  2.38,  p.  clx<xiv. 

X 


306  EARLY   IRISH    HISTORY. 

bably  finding  the  enemy  not  quite  prepared.'  The  Dal  Cais  and 
the  men  of  South  Connact  (ihe  Ui  Fiachach  Aidhe  and  the  Ui 
Maine)  were  routed,  with  great  slaughter.  The  men  of  South 
Munster  were  overthrown,  and  both  were  pursued  to  their 
respective  camps,  which  some  of  the  Norsemen  commenced  to 
plunder.  At  this  juncture,  whilst  the  Norsemen  were  scattered 
in  pursuit  of  the  beaten  foe,  Maelseachlainn  came  up  with  the 
men  of  Meath,  from  Kilmainham,  and  delivered  his  attack, 
probably  on  the  flank  of  the  disordered  Northmen.  It  was 
completely  successful.  The  Northmen  were  overthrown,  and 
driven  with  red  slaughter  to  their  sliips,  in  which  the  remnant, 
we  may  presume,  escaped,  as  no  mention  is  anywhere  made  of 
the  ships  of  the  Northmen  having  been  captured  by  Mael- 
seachlainn. The  following  is  the  account  of  tho  battle  in  the 
Four  Masters,  A.D.  1014  :— 

A  spirited,  fierce,  vengeful,  and  furious  battle  was  fought  between 
them — the  like  of  which  was  not  to  be  found  in  that  time — at  Clontarf, 
on  the  Friday  before  Easter  (April  23rd,  1014,)  precisely.  In  that 
battle  were  slain  Brian,  monarch  of  Erin,  who  was  the  Augustus  of 
the  West  of  Europe,  in  the  88th  year  of  his  age  ;  Murchadh,  son  of 
Brian,  rig  damna,  in  his  63rd  year ;  Conaing,  son  of  Donncuan,  Brian's 
brother,  and  Turlough,  son  of  Murchadh,  his  grandson.  His  three 
companions,  whom  they  name,  were  slain,  and  Tadg  O'Kelly,  lord  of  the 
Ui  Maine,  and  Maelraonaidh  Ua  hEidhin  (probably  the  brother  of 
Brian's  first  wife),  chieftain  of  Fiachrach  Aidhne ;  the  chieftains  of 
Fermoy  and  Cearraighe  Luachra,  and  the  sons  of  the  chieftain  of 
Corca  Bhaiscin,  of  the  chieftain  of  the  Eoganacht  of  Killamey,  and 
of  the  chieftain  of  Mar,  in  Scotland.  The  forces  of  the  Northmen 
were  afterwards  routed  by  dint  of  battling,  bravery,  and  striking  by 
Mealseachlainn,  from  the  Tolka  to  Ath  Cliath.  It  was  Brodar,  King 
of  the  Danes  of  Denmark,  who  slew  Brian.  The  ten  hundred  in 
armour  were  cut  to  pieces,  and  at  least  three  thousand  of  the  foreigners 
were  slain. 

The  Annals  of  Innisfallen  say  that  Brian,  with  his  son 
Murchadh,  went  round  the  army,  before  the  battle  began,  with 
a  crucitix  in  his  left  hand  and  a  sword  with  a  golden  scabbard 
in  his  right  hand,  to  show  them  that  he  would  die  along  with 
them  in  fighting  for  them.  The  attack  was  then  delivered,  and 
Brian  was  killed  by  Brodar  before  he  went  from  the  battle  * 
(ir  fo  be  sin,  i.e.,  Bruadar  do  mart  Brian  rea  teithe  as  an  ccath). 

'  If  Brian  had  anticipated  an  attack  on  that  day  he  would  undoubtedly  have 
recalled  an  important  dotachmentof  his  forces  that  was  away  foraging  in  Leiuster, 
under  his  son  Donncadh. 

*  O'Connor,  Rerum.  Hib.,  II.  671. 


CLONTARF.  307 

There  fell  of  the  Northmen,  3,012,  and  of  the  Leinstermen, 
3,000.6 

Maelseachlainn  is  charged  with  treachery  on  this  occasion 
by  the  writers  of  the  South.  Some  merely  state  that  he  with- 
drew  his  forces  on  the  eve  of  the  battle,  while  others  go  further 
and  assert  that  he  had  a  secret  understanding  with  the  North- 
men. The  mildest  form  of  the  accusation  is  that  he  abstained 
from  giving  timely  help.  The  common-sense  of  mankind 
allows  to  a  beaten  army  the  privilege  of  grumbling  and  framing 
excuses  of  this  kind,  without,  however,  attaching  to  them 
any  evidential  value.  We  make  no  doubt  the  deposed  ard 
righ  would  be  very  glad  to  have  the  chance  of  clearing  off  old 
scores  with  Brian,  if  he  could  do  so  with  safety.  A  Gaelic 
proverb,  quoted  by  Keating,  says,  "  Never  trust  a  reconciled 
enemy."  The  chance,  however,  did  not  then  come  to  Mael- 
seachlainn. If  he  had  an  understanding  with  the  Norsemen, 
his  attacking  them  during  the  fight,  whilst  they  were  victorious 
would  be  inexplicable,  or,  at  least,  highly  improbable.  If  he 
had  no  understanding,  his  allowing  Brian's  army  to  be  crushed 

^  From  the  Annals  of  Tigernach,  who  died  74  years  (1088)  after  the  battle, 
the  leaf  containing  the  entries  from  1003  to  1017  is  missing  {Jiev.  Cel.,  xvii.,  354). 
The  Four  Masters  refer  to  the  Book  of  Cloiimacnoise,  which,  no  doubt,  contained 
the  entry  which  they  reproduce,  and  which  accords  in  substance  with  the  entry 
in  the  Annals  of  Ulster.  MacGeoghegan's  account,  one  of  the  many  "  insets,"  as 
we  think,  in  his  translation,  follows  a  panegyric  on  Brian,  based  on  the  bardic 
eulogies.  Tigernach'a  account  was  probably  in  the  Book  of  Clotimacnoise ;  it 
certainly  did  not  escape  the  notice  of  Tadg  of  the  Mountain,  the  chief  annalist, 
who  spent  15  years,  as  Colgan  tells  us,  labouring  indefatigably  in  searching  our 
muniments. 

The  text  of  the  Annals  of  Ulster  runs  ;  "  Jniciti  cac  c|10-6a  erop^A,  no  tia 
fpic  inncfAmAi'l.  mAi-oi|i  i4|iom  poji  gAtlu  "]  poji  tAijniu  (i  cofAig)  co  |iuf 
"OiteJAic  uile  -oo  teif."  We  suggest  that  "i  cof A15  "  should  be  placed  in  the 
previous  sentence,  so  the  translation  would  accord  with  the  Four  Masters,  and 
read  : — "A  fierce  battle  was  fought  between  them,  the  like  of  which  was  not  to  be 
found,  at  first — Afterwards  the  foreigners  and  Leinstermen  were  routed,  so  that 
they  were  all  destroyed  entirely."  Hennessy  does  not  translate  lApom,  which 
is  the  really  importapt  word,  as  opposed  to  1  cof  A15,  at  first. 

With  the  view  we  present,  too,  accords  the  story  told  of  Sitric  and  his  wife, 
Brian's  daughter.  They  stood  on  the  ramparts  of  the  fort,  surveying  the  fight. 
"Well  do  the  Norsemen  reap  the  field,"  said  he.  "  Many  a  sheaf  do  they  cast 
from  them."  "  The  result,"  she  answered,  "  will  be  seen  at  the  end  of  the  day." 
And  at  the  close  of  the  fight  she  retorted,  "  The  foreigners,"  said  she,  "  appear  to 
me  to  have  taken  possession  of  their  native  land  ("Oucun)."  "  How  so  ?  "  said  he. 
"  They  are  going  into  the  sea,  as  is  natural  for  them,"  she  replied. 

An  admirable  bardic  account,  spirited  and  highly  imaginative,  of  the  battle 
will  be  found  in  Dalton's  History  of  Dublin,  p.  71.  It  was  prepared  by  O'Donovan, 
from  the  "  Oath  Cluanna  Tarbh "  chiefly,  but  corrected  from  other  accounts, 
Brian  is  represented  as  praying  in  his  tent  during  the  fight,  but  the  annals  say 
nothing  of  this,  and  the  Annals  of  Ulster  state  that  it  was  in  the  "  counterblow  " 
of  the  battle  he  fell,  which  we  think  more  likely,  and  more  in  keeping  with  the 
character  of  the  brave  old  warrior.  Other  bardic  accounts  will  be  found  in  the 
Wars  of  the  Oael,  and  the  Leahhar  Oiris,  recently  printed  in  Erin,  There  is  also 
an  account  in  the  Gaelic  Journal,  Vol.  V. 


808  EARLY   IRISH   HISTORY. 

would  expose  himself  to  be  attacked  by  the  whole  force  of  the 
victorious  Norsemen,  who  would  give  no  quarter  to  a  foe  who 
had  so  often  worsted  them.  If,  on  the  other  hand,  he  sulked 
in  his  tent  while  Brian  was  fighting,  and  Brian  came  off 
victorious,  he  could  not  doubt  but  that  hot  chastisement  would 
await  him.  At  the  bar  of  history  Maclseachlainn  therefore 
stands  acquitted. 

Brian  had  made  a  will  before  the  battle,  in  which  he 
directed  that  if  he  fell  he  should  be  buried  in  Armagh,  thinking, 
no  doubt,  that  the  seat  of  the  primacy  was  the  proper  resting 
place  for  the  ard  righ  and  Imperato7'  Scotorum.  So  Maelmuire, 
the  co'arb  of  St.  Patrick,  went  with  his  clergy  to  Swoids  to 
meet  the  body,  which,  as  well  as  the  remains  of  Murchadh  and 
Turlough,  were  conveyed  to  Armagh,  and  after  being  waked 
for  twelve  nights,  with  due  solemnities,  were  laid  in  a  new 
tomb  in  the  cathedral.  The  other  chieftains  and  men  of  rank, 
to  the  number  of  thirty,  were  conveyed  to  their  territorial 
churches  and  interred  there. 

The  character  of  Brian  has  been  variously  estimated.  Some 
say  he  was  a  patriot  statesman,  others  that  he  was  an  ambitious 
usurper.  In  our  judgment  he  was  neither;  he  was  a  tribal 
chieftain,  fighting  for  tribal  ascendancy,  nothing  more  or  less. 
This  was  the  weakness  of  his  position  and  the  cause  of  his 
failure. 

There  is  no  reason  to  think  that  he  ever  formed  the  notion 
of  founding  an  hereditary  dynasty  ruling  in  the  order  of  primo- 
geniture. Nor  is  it  likely  that  the  Dal  Cais  would  have 
tolerated  any  such  innovation.  He  might,  no  doubt,  have  had  his 
eldest  son  made  tanist  in  his  lifetime.  He,  however,  abstained 
from  doing  so.  Probably  he  saw  no  necessity  for  doing  so,  as 
Murchadh  would,  undoubtedly,  have  succeeded  him  if  he  had 
survived.  If  Brian  stood  forth  as  the  champion  of  a  united 
Erin  his  first  duty  was  to  consolidate  his  power  in  Leath  Mogha, 
and  conciliate  the  good-will  and  loyalty  of  the  South.  Instead 
of  doing  this  he  re-imposed  or  certainly  continued  the  exaction 
of  the  odious  "boroma,"^  and  made  the  men  of  Leinster  his 
deadly  enemies.     He  was  a  brave  warrior  and  a  good  soldier — 

^  Baroraa. — According  to  the  Brehon  Law  Tracts,  as  we  have  seen,  the  Ard 
Righ  had  uo  right  to  remit  food  rents,  except  for  his  own  lifetime.  This  would,  we 
assume,  apply  to  a  cow-rent  like  the  horoma.  And,  in  fact,  Fineachta's  successors 
enforced  the  payment  of  iu  frequently.  Brian  was  thus,  probably,  claiming  what 
was  lawful,  but  not  expedient. 


CLONTARF.  309 

r^ood  in  organization,  in  strategy,  and  in  tactics.  Starting 
from  small  beginnings,  he  achieved,  from  a  military  point  of 
view,  success  of  the  highest  order  against  a  rival  (Maelseachlainn) 
who  was  also  a  singularly  active  and  capable  commander.  It 
is  fantastic  to  represent  him  as  a  crusader  fighting  for  the 
cause  of  religion  against  the  pagan  Norseman.  The  Norsemen 
in  Erin  were  his  allies,  when  it  suited  him.  They  were  largely 
Christian,  and  Brian's  daughter  was,  as  we  have  stated,  married 
to  Sitric.  The  Northmen  f  lom  over  sea  were  also  to  some  extent 
Christian,  and  certainly  came  to  Ciontarf  for  hire  and  plunder, 
and  not  to  wreak  vengeance  or  extirpate  Christianity.  The 
worksof  peace  attributed  to  Brian  by  the  Southern  panegyrists 
— the  advancement  of  religion  and  learning,  the  building  of 
churches,  bridges,  etc.,  throughout  Erin,  had  no  existence  in 
fact.  With  the  best  intentions  he  could  have  done  nothing 
outside  Thomond,  and  even  there  he  was  too  busy  with  fighting 
andthe  preparations  for  fighting  to  have  much  time  to  spare  for 
peaceful  labours.  It  would,  however,  be  unfair  to  brand  Brian 
as  an  usurper.  The  ardrighship  did  not  go  by  hereditary  descent, 
nor  was  it  until  the  time  of  Niall  of  the  Nine  Hostages  that  it 
became  the  appanage  of  a  single  tribe,  and  the  monopoly  of  it 
by  the  Ui  Neill  might  in  the  same  sense  be  regarded  as  an 
usurpation  with  equal  justice.  Moreover,  Brian  was  compelled 
to  go  forward  in  self-defence.  His  territory  was  plundered 
again  and  again,  and  insult  was  added  to  outrage  when  the 
venerated  inauguration  tree  at  Magh  Adhair  was  cut  down. 
He  had  no  option,  therefore,  but  to  submit  or  fight,  and  in 
fighting  for  safety  he  was  irresistibly  led  to  fight  for 
supremacy. 

After  the  battle  the  Munster  clans  assembled  on  the  crreen  of 
Ath  Cliath,  and  Donchadh,  the  son  of  Brian  and  his  successor, 
who  had  been  away  foraging  in  Leinster,  came  in  with  a  prey 
of  twenty  oxen  (!)  and  took  command.  Sitric  was  not  further 
molested,  and  the  clans  departed  homewards.  At  Mullaghmast, 
in  the  south  of  Kildare,  the  Eoganachts  claimed  the  sovereignty 
of  Munster  by  alternate  right,  under  the  will  of  Olioll  Olum, 
Donchadh  refused,  and  said  that  Brian  and  Mahon  had  got 
the  sovereignty  by  force  of  arms,  and  not  by  succession.  A 
battle  was  imminent  when  the  Eoganachts  quarrelled  amongst 
themselves.  Cian,  the  son  of  MuUoy,  claimed  the  whole  of 
Munster.      Domhnall,    the   son   of  Duibhdabhoirann,   asked 


310  EARLY  IRISH   HISTORY. 

"  Why  should  we  fight  the  battle ;  what  profit  do  we  seek  from 
it?"  '-What  profit  dost  thou  seek,"  said  Mulloy,  "but  to 
cast  off  the  Dal-Cais  ? "  "  Wilt  thou  then  give  me  an  equal 
share  of  as  much  of  Munster  as  we  shall  conquer  ? "  said 
Domhnall,  "  That  I  will  not  give,"  said  Cian.  "  On  my 
word,  then,"  replied  Domhnall,  "  I  will  not  go  with  thee  to  fight 
the  Dal-Cais.''  Domhnall  subsequently  (1016)  led  an  army  to 
Limerick  to  attack  the  Dal-Cais,  and  was  defeated  by  Donchadh 
,'tnd  Tadg,  who  appear  to  have  made  up  their  quarrel.  Tadg 
was  afterwards  killed  treacherously  by  the  men  of  Ely,  Tigernach 
says,  at  the  instigation  of  his  brother,  Donchadh. 

The  defeat  of  the  Northmen  at  Clontarf  hadno  political  result 
of  immediate  importance,  except  the  displacement  of  the  Dal- 
Cais,  and  the  restoration  of  Maelseachlainn.  It  is  a  mistake  to 
suppose  that  it  was  followed  by  the  expulsion  of  the  Northmen. 
A  careful  examination  of  Tigernach,  the  Annals  of  Ulster,  and 
the  Four  Masters  shows  that  things  quickly  resumed  their  usual 
course.  Maelseachlainn  made  royal  hostings,  and  took  hostages* 
and  the  inferior  chieftains  waged  petty  wars  a  few  months  after 
the  battle,  as  if  it  was  one  of  the  ordinary  incidents  in  an  ordi- 
nary year.  We  shall  not  try  the  patience  of  our  readers  by 
giving  details  of  these  tribal  quarrels.  The  names  would  be 
different,  but  the  story  would  be  the  same  as  that  so  often  told 
already.  The  position  of  the  Northmen,  however,  cannot  be 
satisfactorily  explained  without  some  illustrative  extracts  from 
our  annals  to  correct  the  false  impressions  that  have  been  put 
in  circulation  by  the  historical  romances. 

1015.  Maelseachlainn  set  fire  to  Ath  Cliath,  and  burned  the  houses 
outside  it.     He  then  plundered  Ui  Ceinselagh. 

1018.  Slausjhter  of  foreisnevs  at  Odbha,  near  Navan. 

1019.  Kells  plundered  by  Sitric,  who  carried  off  innumerable  spoils 
and  prisonex'S. 

1020.  Sitric  routed  at  Delgany  with  red  slaughter.  The  foreigners 
routed  at  Tlachtga  by  Maelseachlainn. 

1022.  Foreigners  routed  at  sea  by  Ulidians. 

1023,  Raid  by  foreigners  to  South  Bregia. 

1025.  Flaibhbheartach  Ua  Neill,  from  Ailech,  made  a  hosting  into 
Magh  Breagb,  and  carried  off  the  hostages  of  the  Gael  from  the 
foreigners.  The  men  of  Ossory  marched  to  the  Tolka  and  took  hostages 
from  the  foreigners. 

1027.  A  hosting  by  the  foreigners  and  the  lord  of  Breagh  to  Slieve- 
bloom,  where  they  were  defeated. 

1072.  (Tigernach)  Diarmaid,  son  of  Mael  na-mbo  (he  was  king  at 
Ath  Cliath)  king  of  the  Bretons,  and  the  Hebrides,  and  Ath  Cliath,  and 


CLONTARF.  811 

Mogh  Nuadhat's  half,  was  killed  by  Concobar,  son  of  Maelseachlainn 
in  the  battle  of  Odhba,  and  an  innumerable  slaughter  of  foreigners  and 
Leinster   men  around   him.     Godfrey,  the  grandson  of   Ragnall,  then 
became  king,  and  was  afterwards  expelled  from  Ath  Cliath  by  Murchadh 
O'Brien. 

1084.  Donnchadh,  son  of  the  Cailleach  O'Rourke,  fought  Muir- 
chertach  O'Brien  and  the  foreigners  near  Leixlip,  4,000  were  slain, 
and  the  head  of  O'Ruarc  taken  to  Louth. 

1100.  Muirchertach  O'Brien  brought  a  great  fleet  of  the  foreigners 
to  Derry.  They  were  cut  off  by  killing  and  drowning. 
1102  Inis  Scattry  was  plundered  by  the  foreigners. 
1103,  A  hosting  by  the  men  of  Erin  to  Ath  Cliath  to  oppose 
Maghnug  and  the  foreigners ;  but  peace  was  made,  and  Muirchertach 
O'Brien  gave  his  daughter  to  Sichraidh,  the  son  of  Maghnus,  and  many 
valuables  and  gifts. 

1116.  Defeat  of  Leinstermen  by  Domlmall  O'Brien  and  the 
foreigners. 

1119.  Turlough  O'Conor  took  the  hostages  of  Ath  Cliath,  and  took 
away  the  son  of  the  King  of  Tara  who  had  been  in  captivity  there. 

1127.  Turlough  made  his  son  Conchobar  King  of  Ath  Cliath.  He 
was  dethroned  the  next  year  by  the  men  of  Leinster  and  the  foreigners. 
He  then  placed  another  king  over  them,  viz.,  Domhnall,  son  of  Mac 
Faelain. 

1137.  The  siege  of  Waterford  by  Diarmaid  Mac  Murrough,  King 
of  Leinster;  and  Conchobar  O'Brien,  King  of  the  Dal-Cais,  and  the 
foreigners  of  Ath  Cliath  and  L.  Garman  (Wexford),  who  had  two 
hundred  ships  on  the  sea.  They  carried  off  with  them  the  hostages  of 
the  Deesi  and  of  the  foreigners  of  Waterford. 

1154.  Muirchertach  Mac  Lochlainn  went  to  Ath  Cliath,  and  the 
foreigners  submitted  to  him,  and  h«  gave  them  1,200  cows  as  a 
"  retainer  "  (,n  a  cuAtiAfcAt). 

About  this  time  (1154)  we  reach  the  threshold  of  the 
Angevin  epoch,  and  events  occurred  of  far-reaching  importance 
to  the  Gael.  1152  was  a  memorable  year.  A  synod  was  held 
at  Kells,  and  probably  a  second  at  Mellifont.  Eleanor  of 
Acquitaine  was  divorced  from  her  husband,  Louis  VII.  of 
France,  on  the  18th  of  March,  1152,  on  the  ground  of  con- 
sanguinity in  the  fourth  degree.  She  had  lived  with  him 
since  their  marriage  in  1137,  borne  him  two  daughters,  and 
brought  him,  as  a  marriage  portion,  the  duchy  of  Acquitaine. 
After  fourteen  years,  however,  it  was  discovered  that  they  were 
within  the  forbidden  degrees.  Louis  was  sixth  in  descent 
from  Thibaut,  Duke  of  Acquitaine,  through  Adelaide,  his 
daughter,  who  was  married  to  Hugh  Capet  (987-996),  and 
Eleanor  was  sixth  in  descent  from  the  said  Thibaut  throucfh 
his  son  William  jier  a  brasJ     Two  months  after  the  divorce, 

">  Revue  des  Questions  Historiques,  1890,  p.  407,  for  Pedigrees.     Martin,  Eist. 
France,  II.,  461. 


o 


12  EARLY   IRISH   HISTORY. 


Eleanor  gave  her  hand  and  brought  her  duchy  to  Henry 
Plantagenet,  who  was  crowned  King  of  England  at  West- 
minster in  December,  1154.  In  the  following  year,  according 
to  the  best  authorities,  he  received  from  Pope  Adrian  IV.  the 
famous  "Privilege,"  which  is  commonly,  but  inaccurately, 
referred  to  as  the  Ball  Laudabiliter.  This  will  ensracfe  our 
attention  in  a  future  page.  For  the  present  wo  shall  confine  our. 
selves  to  another  famous  event  which  happened  in  1152 — the 
capture,abduction,or  elopement  of  Dearbhforgaill(Deravorgaill), 
the  wife  of  Tighernan  Ua  Ruairc.  She  was  the  daughter  of  Mur- 
chadh  Maelseachlainn,  King  of  Meath ;  and  being  44)  years  of 
age  in  1152  was  probably  married  for  over  twenty  years  to 
Tighernan,  who  was  chieftain  of  a  territory  comprising,  but 
more  extensive  than,  the  present  counties  of  Cavan  and  Leitrim. 
In  that  year  there  was  a  meeting  between  Turlough  O'Conor 
and  Ua  Lochlainn,  King  of  Aileach,  at  Magh  Erne,  between 
the  Erne  and  the  Droweis,  where  they  made  friendship  "  upon 
the  Staff  of  Jesus  and  the  relics  of  St.  Columba." 

Turlough  then  proceeded  into  Munster,  which  he  divided 
into  two  parts  between  the  MacCarthys  and  the  O'Briens.  He 
then  went  into  Meath,  where  he  was  joined  by  Ua  Lochlainn 
and  Diarmaid  MacMurrough,  King  of  Leinster.  They  then 
divided  Meath  into  two  parts,  and  gave  Westmeath  to  Murchadh 
Ua  Maelseachlainn,  and  East  Meath  to  his  son  Maelseachlainn, 
the  brother  of  Dearbhforgaill.  They  then  attacked  and 
defeated  Tighernan  Ua  Ruarc,  and  took  Conmhaiene,  i.e., 
Longford,  and  the  southern  part  of  Leitrim  from  him,  and 
made  Gillabraide  Ua  Ruarc  chieftain  of  it,  leaving  Tighernan, 
we  assume,  the  rest  of  the  territory.  All  this  indicates  a  policy 
of  breaking  up  and  weakening  the  chieftainries.  It  was  on  this 
occasion  that  the  romantic  elopement  of  O'Ruarc's  wife  is 
fabled  to  have  taken  place.  A  careful  sifting  of  the  evidence 
proves  that  there  was  no  elopement  and  no  romance.  The 
entries  in  the  Annals  of  Ulster  from  1131  to  1155  are  wanting, 
but  the  taking  away  of  Dearbhforgaill  is  referred  to  by  the 
continuator  of  Tigernach  from  1088  to  1179.  This  is,  no  doubt, 
the  earliest  account  that  has  reached  us.  We  give  it  textually 
from  the  translation  of  Stokes.^ 

1154.  The  daughter  of  Murchadh  came  again  by  flight  [An'etot)]  from 
Leinster. 

f  Rev.  Celt.,  xvi.,ni. 


CLONTARF.  313 

Tko  annalist  says  nothing  about  an  elopement,  and  con- 
siders that  she  was  detained  by  Diarmaid.  Diarmaid  was  in 
his  64th  year  when  he  carried  off  Dearbhforgaill. 

The  account  in  the  Four  Masters  runs  thus,  and  explains 
why  she  was  carried  off: — 

Dearbforgaill  daughter  of  Murchadh  Ua  Maelseachlaian,  the  wife 
of  Tighernan  Ua  Ruarc,  was  brought  away  by  the  Kiug  of  Leinster,  i.e., 
by  Diarmaid,  with  her  cattle  and  furniture,  and  he  took  (sent  ?  t^o  paoi) 
them  with  her  according  to  the  advice  of  her  brother,  Maelseachlainn. 
There  arose  then  a  war  between  the  Ui  Sruain  (the  O'Rourkes  and  the 
O'Reillys  of  Cavan  and  Leitrim),  and  the  men  of  Meath. 

Dearbhforgaill  appears  to  have  been  possessed  of  consider- 
able property  as  her  separate  estate.  In  1158  she  gave  60oz.  of 
gold  to  the  clergy  at  the  consecration  of  the  church  at  Mellifont. 
This  was  a  very  large  sum  in  those  days.  Brian  Boru,  as  we 
have  stated,  only  gave  20oz.  when  he  visited  Armagh,  The 
cattle  and  furniture  were  probably  removed  for  safe  keeping,  as 
hostilities  were  imminent,  and  were  restored  to  her  after  she 
returned.  The  Four  Masters  tell  us  (1153) "  Dearbhforgaill  came 
from  the  King  of  Leinster  to  Tighernan  Ua  Ruarc  again.  An 
army  was  led  by  Turlogh  O'Connor  to  meet  (x^ccoinne)  Mac 
Murchadh,  Kiug  of  Leinster,  to  Doire  Gabhlain,  and  he  took 
away  the  daughter  of  Ua  Maelseachlainn  and  her  cattle  from  him, 
so  that  she  was  in  the  power  (or  protection)  of  the  men  of  Meath. 
On  this  occasion  Tighernan  Ua  Ruarc  came  into  his  house  and 
gave  him  hostages.'' 

The  efiect  of  all  the  entries  is,  in  our  judgment,  that 
Dearbhforgaill  was  taken  away  for  safety,  and  as  a  hostage, 
with  the  consent  of  her  family,  and  that  she  was  restored  to 
Tighernan  when  he  made  his  submission  to  Turlough.  She 
died  at  Mellifont  in  1193  in  the  85th  year  of  her  age.  Our 
annalists  do  not  say  "  after  a  good  penance."  And  let  us 
charitably  assume  that  she  had  nothing  very  serious  to 
repent  of.^ 

^  MacGeoghegan's  account  is  an  "inaet."  Hs  makes  it  a  case  of  misconduct 
and  elopement.  O'Donovan  in  his  note  does  not  refer  to  the  entry  from  the  con- 
tinuator  of  Tigernacli.     Ladies  were  sometimes  taken  and  ransomed. 


[     314    ] 


CHAPTER  XXII. 

THE   ORGANISATION   OF  THE   CHURCH. 

IN  beginning  an  inquiry  into  the  organisation  of  the  Early 
Church  we  are  met  at  the  threshold  by  a  curious  and 
famous  script,  known  as  the  "  the  Catalogue  of  the  Saints." 
Apart  from  this  our  progress  would  be  easy  and  rapid.  In  the 
South  of  what  is  now  France,  where  St.  Patrick  made  his 
ecclesiastical  studies  and  received  his  pastoral  training,  there 
was,  as  we  have  seen,  an  episcopal  church,  monasteries,  and  a 
body  of  solitaries,  whom  we  may  call  hermits  or  anchorites, 
who  were  considered  to  excel  the  others  in  spiritual  perfection. 
The  Episcopal  Church  was  divided  into  territorial  dioceses, 
each  under  its  own  bishop  ;  and  the  diocese  was  sub-divided 
into  territorial  parishes,  each  under  its  own  pastor  and  his 
assistant  priests.  We  should  therefore  naturally  expect  that 
our  apostle  would  introduce  into  Ireland  the  system  which  he 
found  established  there.  And  this  is,  in  our  judgment,  what 
actually  took  place.  And  first,  as  to  the  dioceses :  They  were 
certainly  in  most  cases,  and  probably  in  nearly  all,  co-extensive 
with  the  several  tribal  territories.  St.  Patrick  addressed  him- 
self in  the  first  instance  to  the  chieftains.  The  conversion  of 
the  king  was  promptly  followed  by  the  conformity  of  the  clan. 
The  High  King  of  Tara,  Dichu  in  Dalaradia ;  the  chieftain  of 
Tirawley,  in  Connact,  King  Aengus,  at  Cashel,  and  Daire,  at 
Armagh,  are  instances,  and  there  were,  no  doubt,  others.  We 
may  add  that  this  was  the  method  which  St.  Columba  followed 
with  the  Picts ;  King  Brade  was  his  first  important  convert. 
When  the  chieftain  was  secured,  the  Church  was  organised  in 
bis  territory  under  a  bishop ;  churches  were  built  throughout 
it,  and  districts  attached  to  them  for  pastoral  duty.  The  church 
buildings  were  called  in  Gaelic,  congabala,  and  sometimes,  we 
think,  also  ferta.  The  church  itself  was  often  called  teach,  or 
teach  mor — the  great  house,  and  when  it  assumed  larger  propor- 
tions, teampull.  We  have  already  quoted  a  passage  on  this 
point  from  the  Tripartite,  which,  for  convenience,  we  repeat 


THE  ORGANISATION  OF  THE  CHURCH.         315 

here : — "  In  this  wise,  then,  Patrick  measured  the  ferta,  namely, 
seven  score  ft.  in  the  enclosure,  and  seven  and  twenty  in  the 
great  house  (cig  mop),  and  seventeen  ft.  in  the  chule  (kitchen), 
and  seven  ft.  in  the  aregal,  and  in  that  wise  it  was  he  used 
to  found  the  congabala  always."  Todd  thinks  the  tig  mor 
was  the  residence  of  the  priests.  In  our  opinion  it  was  the 
church.  It  was  circular,  we  assume  ;  27  ft.  in  diameter,  and 
not  much  inferior  in  area  to  the  oblong  churches  which  were 
afterwards  erected.  The  Teamp  nil  na  h Fear,  in  Inismurray, 
is  only  25  ft.  6  in.  in  length,  by  12  ft.  in  breadth.^  The  chule, 
17  ft.  in  diameter,  was,  we  think,  "  room  and  kitchen  "  in  one, 
the  residence  which  sufficed  for  the  simple  wants  of  the  pioneers 
of  the  Faith.  The  aregal  was,  we  suggest,  the  embryo  round 
tower.  It  was  a  circular  building  7  feet  in  diameter,  made, 
possibly,  in  imitation  of  the  fire-house  which,  we  assume,  existed 
in  the  ferta  on  the  slope  of  Tara.  It  was  probably  built  solidly 
of  stone  in  most  places,  and  used  as  a  storehouse  and  a  strong- 
hold, and  was  also  possibly  a  "  fire-house." 

There  was  a  teach  na  teinidh,  or  fire-house,  in  Inismurray, 
the  existing  remains  of  which  are  described  by  Wakeman  : — 
"  The  fire-place  consists  of  seven  stones,  four  of  which  are 
placed  on  edge  and  set  deeply  in  the  ground,  in  the  manner  of 
a  pagan  cist.  The  sides  face  as  nearly  as  possible  the  cardinal 
points,  and  are  therefore  not  in  a  position  coincident  with  the 
surrounding  walls  of  the  teach.  The  present  walls  are  the 
most  modern  structure  within  the  cashel.  The  area  enclosed 
by  them  is  oblong,  17  ft.  4  in.  by  11  ft.  4  in.  There  is  no 
doubt,  we  think,  that  the  original  walls  were  circular.  The 
clachan  near  it,  called  the  '  school-house,'  is  nearly  circular, 
bee-hive  in  structure.  The  stones  are  unhammered,  without 
cement  or  mortar.  This  fire-place  was  covered  with  a  slab, 
called  the  leac  an  teinidh,  which  the  natives  aay  was  broken 
up  by  the  workmen  employed  under  the  Act  for  the  Preserva- 
tion of  Ancient  Monuments,  and  used  in  repairing  the  old 
walls.  The  natives  all  aver  that  here  of  old  burnt  a  perpetual 
fire,  from  which  all  the  hearths  on  the  island  which  had  from 
any  cause  become  extinguished,  were  rekindled.  Some  say 
that  it  was  only  necessary  to  place  a  sod  of  turf  on  the  leac 
when  combustion  ensued."^ 

'  Dunraven,  /r.  Architecture,  94. 

•  Wakeman,  Antiquities  on  Inismurry  (1892),  p.  54. 


316  EARLY   IRISH  HISTORY. 

The  fire  was,  we  infer,  kept  "smoored"  or  "raked"  under 
the  stone,  and  the  fire  tended  from  the  side,  for  which  purpose 
three  of  the  seven  stones  were  not  fixed  in  the  ground,  but 
left  loose.  The  aregal  may  have  had  such  a  fire-place,  and 
there  was  probably  some  such  teampull  na  teinidh  in  the 
ferta  at  Kildare  and  Tara. 

The  internal  diameter  of  the  Round  Towers  is,  on  the  averasre 
9  ft. ;  generally  something  less.  The  internal  diameter  of 
the  tower  at  Clondalkin,  for  instance,  is  7  ft.  4  in.  at  the 
base  and  6  ft.  6  in.  at  the  top.  The  height  of  the  aregal 
would  not,  we  may  assume,  be  great.  The  Round  Towers  were 
from  50  to  perhaps  considerably  over  100  ft.  in  height,  all  built 
from  the  inside  without  scaffolding  in  storeys,  and  at  different 
periods.  The  earlier  towers  are  of  rude  "  spawled  "  masonry ; 
the  later  ones  are  of  ashlar  or  hammered  stone.  The  erection 
of  a  tower  by  Cormac  ua  Cillin  at  Tomgraney,  in  Clare,  is 
mentioned  in  the  Chronicon  Scotorum  at  A.D.  964,  This  is 
the  earliest  notice  of  the  building  of  a  tower  in  our  texts. 
Since  Petrie,  our  best  antiquaries  are  agreed  that  the  uses  of 
these  towers  were  ecclesiastical  in  connection  with  the  churches 
near  which  they  were  built,  primarily — we  should  say — like  the 
aregal,  or  strong-houses,  as  a  protection  for  men  and  valuables 
against  marauders.  They  were  used  also,  when  the  elevation 
increased,  as  belfries  and  as  watch-towers.  And  we  may 
remark  that  the  necessity  for  such  strongholds  existed  long 
before  the  coming  of  the  Norsemen.  Churches  were  plundered 
and  termons  violated  by  the  Gael  themselves  long  before  that 
period.  Petrie  fixed  the  date  of  a  few  of  the  existing  towers 
in  the  fifth  century.  Though  it  should  prove  that  none  of  the 
existing  towers  (about  eighty  in  number)  were  older  than  800 
A.D.  we  have  very  little  doubt  that  the  aregal  in  some  stage 
of  development  continued  in  ecclesiastical  use  from  the  earliest 
times. 

To  educate  the  priests  who  were  to  man  these  ramparts  of 
the  Faith,  monasteries  like  Marmoutier,  or  collegiate  commu- 
nities, if  St.  Germanus's  establishment  may  be  called  such, 
were  manifestly  necessary,  and  we  accordingly  find,  in  due 
course,  schools  established  from  time  to  time  at  Armagh, 
Moville,  Clonard,  Derry,  Durrow,  Clonmacnoise,  Glasnevin, 
etc.  But  the  pastoral  work  of  the  congabala  could  not 
have  been  done  from  these  monastic  centres,  nor  could  the 


THE   OEaAMISATION   OF   THE   CHURCH.  317 

parish  priests  and  their  assistants,  whether  they  had  taken  vows 
or  not,  be  properly  regarded  as  cenobite  monks.  To  illustrate 
these  views  let  us  take  a  particular  instance.  The  present  Co. 
Clare  was  occupied  by  three  tribes,  with  distinct  tribal  lands 
belonjying  to  each.  Each  of  these  was  formed  into  a  diocese. 
In  the  south-west  of  Clare  the  See  Inis  Scattery  (Innes  Cath- 
raighe)  was  co-extensive  with  the  Corca  Baiscin  (Eremonian). 
In  the  North  the  See  of  Kilfenora  was  co-extensive  with  the 
tribe-land  of  the  Corca  Modruaidh  (Clanna  Rury).  In  the 
centre  the  See  of  Kiilaloe  represented  roughly  the  tribe-land 
of  the  Dal-Cais.  But  the  diocesan  arrangement  was  strictly 
territorial,  not  tribal.  The  bishop  had  no  jurisdiction  over 
tribesmen  outside  the  diocesan  tribe-land.  The  diocese  of  Kil- 
macduagh  was  co-extensive  with  the  tribe-land  of  the  Ui 
Fiachra  Aidhne,  but  the  bishop  had  no  jurisdiction  over  the 
Ui  Fiachra  of  the  Moy,  men  of  the  same  tribe  further  north  in 
Connact.  In  the  same  way,  Annaghdown  was  co-extensive  with 
lar  Connact.  The  tribe-land  of  Corca-Laidhe  corresponded 
with  the  diocese  of  Ros  Ailithre,  or  Ross,  in  the  south-west  of 
Cork.  Ossory  very  nearly  represents  the  tribe-land  of  the 
Ui  Osraighe,  and  Dromore  the  tribe-land  of  the  Ui  Ecac-Iveagh. 
Others  might  be  mentioned,  and  we  find  it  stated  in  our  texts, 
what  the  circumstances  of  the  case  suggest,  that  our  Apostle 
founded  a  bishopric  in  every  important  tribe-land. 

Three  bishops  for  the  county  of  Clare  would  appear 
now-a-days  to  be  too  many,  and  the  excessive  number  of 
bishops  was,  at  the  period  our  history  has  now  reached, 
mentioned  amongst  the  sins  of  the  Irish  Church  by  foreign 
ecclesiastics.  But  it  was  a  necessity.  None  of  the  three  tribal 
chiefs  in  Clare  would  allow  the  priests  in  his  territory  to  be 
subject  to  the  control  of  the  neighbouring  chieftain's  bishop, 
and  would  have  insisted,  if  need  were,  on  having  a  bishop  of 
his  own.  Moreover,  the  conditions  under  which  episcopal 
duties  had  to  be  performed  then  were  very  different  from  what 
they  are  now.  There  were  no  roads,  no  bridges,  no  railways, 
cycles  or  motor  cars.  The  bishop  made  his  visitations  on  foot, 
and  had  probably  to  undergo  more  hardship  in  discharging'  the 
duties  of  his  office  than  a  bishop  would  have  to  undergo  now 
who  was  burthened  with  the  spiritual  care  of  the  whole  county. 

Authorities  are  agreed  that  the  number  of  dioceses  in  the 
tarly  church  was  too  great,  but  the  figures  they  conjecture,  vary 


318  EARLY   IRISH   HISTORY. 

considerably.     The  lowest  estimate  is  found  in  an  old  duan 
quoted  by  Keating,  and  is  probably  nearest  the  truth : — 

Five  and  fifty  learned  bishops 

The  holy  man  ordained, 

And  three  hundred  approved  praying  men 

On  whom  he  conferi'ed  orders.^ 

If  we  take  this  to  mean  the  number  of  bishoprics  estab- 
lished, it  seems  to  us  to  be  a  reasonable  estimate.  The  names 
of  42  bishops  are  given  in  the  Tirechan  text,  and  the  writer  adds 
"and  many  more"  (et  alii  quam  plurimi).  And  the  Four 
Masters  state  ^1111  A.D.)  that  the  Synod  of  Fiadh  Mac  Aengus 
was  attended  by  Kellach,  the  coarb  of  St.  Patrick,  and 
Maelmure-ua-Dunain,  noble  Senior  of  Ireland  (Keating  calls 
him  Archbishop  of  Cashel)  and  50  bishops. 

There  was,  no  doubt,  a  full  attendance  of  bishops  at  the 
Synod  on  this  occasion.  At  the  Synod  of  Rathbrasail  the 
existing  dioceses  were  reduced  in  number  to  12  bishops,  and 
the  Primate  for  Leatt  Chuinn,  and  12  bishops,  and  the  archbishop 
of  Cashel  for  Leath  Mogha — 26  in  all.  To  this  number  is 
to  be  added  the  Bishop  of  Dublin,  whom  Keating  does  not 
include,  as  at  that  time  he  received  consecration  from,  and 
owed  obedience  to,  Canterbury,  It  is  to  be  remarked  that  in 
1096,  Anselm,  then  Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  erected  a  new 
diocese  by  creating  and  consecrating  a  bishop  for  Waterford, 
which  was  only  13  miles  by  9  in  extent,  and  was  left  untouched 
in  the  new  arrangement.  This  may  be  contrasted  with  the 
extensive  diocese  of  Connor,  over  which  and  Down  St.  Malachy 
presided,  visiting  all  the  towns  and  districts  of  his  spiritual  king- 
dom on  foot,  as  St.  Bernard  tells  us.  In  our  judgment  there  was 
no  substantial  alteration  in  the  number  or  area  of  the  dioceses 
from  the  time  they  were  first  fully  constituted. 

According  to  the  view  we  present  it  is  not  necessary  to 
open  the  question  of  chorepiscopi,  or  country  bishops  here.  There 
is  no  trace  in  our  texts  of  the  existence  or  suppression  of  the 
order,  as  we  may  style  them,  if  they  ever  existed  in  Erin. 
There  is  no  word  in  Gaelic  distinctly  applicable  to  them,  as  in 


^  A  CU13  te  CA05A  fjiuit  e4rpo5 
Uo  oitfoniT)  incAi'6 
Um  ctn  ce-ouib  ct^uc  a|itiuit6 
pojiiA  c-rojtmui.-t;  sjiai-6. 

^Reeves'  Voivn  and  Connor,  125. 


THE   ORGANISATION   OF   THE   CHURCH,  319 

the  case  of  under  kings  (uf\piA(i)  nor  is  there  a  special  honour 
price  for  them  referred  to,^ 

This  brings  us  to  the  catalogue  of  the  orders  of  the  saints  in 
Ireland,  or  as  Ussher  has  it,  "  the  Catalogue  of  the  Saints." 
Ussher,  who  was  the  first  to  publish  a  text  of  it,  makes  it  the 
foundation  of  the  latter  part  of  his  "  Antiquities  of  the  British 
Churches."  He  had  two  texts  before  him,  one  of  which  may 
date  from  before  the  time  of  Jocelyn.  His  second  text  must  be 
later  than  that  time,  as  it  refers  to  the  vision  of  St.  Patrick,  des- 
cribed by  Jocelyn  in  c.  175.  The  paragraphs  1,  2,  relating  to  the 
first  and  second  order  were  printed  from  Ussher  by  Colgan 
(II.  276).  There  are  two  other  texts,  one  is  published  by 
Fleming  in  his  Collectanea,  and  another,  which  follows 
Fleming's  text  very  closely,  is  found  in  the  Codex  Salmanticensis. 
Both  these  texts  refer  to  the  vision  described  by  Jocelyn,  and 
must  therefore  be  of  subsequent  date.  Ussher's  text,  with  the 
variants  of  Fleming,  is  published  in  Haddon  and  Stubbs,  II. 
292.  For  these  and  other  reasons  we  shall  give  the  text  from 
the  Cordex  Salmanticensis  with  our  translation.  Great  weight 
has  been  attached  to  this  catalogue  from  the  time  of  Ussher  to 
our  own  day.  Reeves  calls  it  a  most  ancient  and  valuable 
authority.  Lanigan,  Todd,  Olden,  and  last  but  not  least.  Arch- 
bishop Healy,  were  impressed  with  its  palmary  importance. 
We  do  not  share  these  views;  to  speak  our  whole  thought,  we 
do  not  consider  it  of  any  evidential  value,  and  must  there- 
fore, to  explain  our  views,  examine  it  in  some  detail,  after  we 
have  given  the  translation  and  text.  We  shall  give  verbatim 
the  recension  of  the  Bollandist  Editors,  who  have  recently 
published  a  beautiful  edition  of  the  Codex  at  the  request  and 
at  the  expense  of  the  late  Marquis  of  Bute.^ 

The  Codex  from  which  the  Bollandist  text  was  taken 
was  sent  from  Salamanca  by  Thomas  Bryan,  the  Jesuit 
Father  who  was  the  rector  of  the  Irish  CoUeo^e  there  about  the 
year  1620  or  1625,  to  a  Jesuit  Father  who  presented  it  to 
Rosweyd,  who  first  conceived  the  idea  of  publishing  the  Acta 


*  "  Benterim  tries  to  show  that  these  rural  bishops  were  real  bishops.  Airgusti 
is  of  the  same  opinion.  Tliomassin  maizes  two  classes  of  chorepiscopi,  of  whom 
one  were  real  bishops  and  the  other  only  had  the  title  without  consecration.  As 
late  as  the  5th  century  we  meet  with  very  many  real  chorepiscopi  in  the  towua 
and  villages  of  Africa." — Hefele  ii.  322. 

^  Acta  Sanctoram  Hih'rmcEex  codice  Salmanticeiisi  nunc  primum  integre  edita 
Optra  Caroli  de  Smtdt  et  Jo^cpUi  dc  Backer,  iS.J.,  18jS. 


320  EARLY   IRISH   HISTORY. 

Sanctorum,  and  was  then  collecting  documents  for  the  cele- 
brated Bollandist  Bibliotheca.  It  is  written  in  a  hand  of  the 
14th  century,  neatly  but  very  inaccurately.  There  is  nothino- 
in  the  Codex,  nor  do  the  learned  editors  in  the  preface,  from 
which  we  have  taken  the  few  facts  above  mentioned,  state  any. 
thing,  about  the  authorship  of  the  Catalogue. 

The  Codex  contains  the  lives  of  about  forty  Irish  Saints, 
including  the  life  of  St.  Malachy  by  St.  Bernard.  It  also 
includes  the  miracles  of  St.  Laurence  O'Toole,  and  a  life  of  St. 
Catherine  of  Alexandria.  It  was  placed  at  the  disposal  of 
Colgan  by  the  BoUandists  and  used  by  him  when  writing  his 
Acta  SS.  Hihernice. 

CATALOGUE   OF  THE  ORDERS  OF  THE  SAINTS. 

"  Here    begins   the  catalogue  of  the  Orders  of  the  Saints 
in  Hibernia  according  to  different  periods : — 

"[432—543] 

"  (1)  The  first  Order  of  the  Saints  was  in  the  time  of  Patrick, 
and  then  all  the  bishops,  350  in  number,  were  famous  and  holy 
and  full  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  They  were  founders  of  churches, 
worshipped  one  head,  Christ,  and  followed  one  leader,  Patrick. 
They  had  one  tonsure,  one  celebration  of  Mass,  and  celebrated 
one  Easter,  namely,  after  the  vernal  equinox.  And  what 
was  excommunicated  by  one  church  all  excommunicated.  They 
did  not  object  to  having  women  as  house-keepers  and  com- 
panions  (mulierum  administrationem  et  consortia  non 
respuebant),  because  founded  on  the  rock,  Christ,  they  did  not 
fear  the  wind  of  temptation.  This  Order  of  Saints  lasted 
through  four  reigns  ;  to  wit,  from  the  time  of  Laoghaire,  the 
son  of  Niall,  who  reigned  thirty-seven  years ;  and  Olioll, 
styled  Moll,  who  reigned  thirty  years  ;  and  Lughaidh,  who 
reigned  seven  years ;  and  this  Order  of  Saints  lasted  to  the 
very  end  of  Tuathal  Maelgarbh,  and  all  remained  throughout 
holy  bishops,  and  these  tuere,  for  the  most  part,  Franks  and 
Romans  and  Britons  and  ^i^cots  hy  hirth.^ 

"  [543—599.] 
"  (2)  The  second  Order  of  Saints  was  like  this.     In  this 
second  Order  now  there  wore  few  bishops  and   many  priests, 

^  Ussher  has  "Catholic"  before  Saints,  and  the  length  of  the  reigns  is  not 
given.  Fleming  omits  "  Catholic,"  and  has  the  regnant  years,  and  gives  the 
number  as  430.     The  words  italicised  are  in  Ussher,  but  are  omitted  in  Fleming. 


THE  ORGANISATION  OF  THE   CHURCH,  321 

300  in  number.  They  worshipped  one  liead,  God,  and  had 
different  rituals  (ritus)  of  celebration  and  different  rules  of 
living,  and  celebrated  one  Easter  ;  to  wit,  the  14th  of  the  moon. 
And  they  made  a  uniform  tonsure  from  ear  to  ear.  They 
shunned  having  women  as  companions  and  house-keepers 
(consortia  et  administrationes  fugiebant),  and  excluded  them 
from  the  monasteries.  This  Order  lasted  for  four  reigns  also 
(ad  hue  ?) ;  to  wit,  from  the  end  of  Tuathal  Maelgarbh  and 
through  the  thirty  years  in  which  Diarmaid  Mac  Cearbhael 
reigned ;  and  through  the  time  of  the  two  grandsons  of  Mure- 
dach,  who  reigned  seven  years  ;  and  during  the  time  of  Aedh, 
the  son  of  Ainmire,  who  reigned  thirty  years.  Those  (saints) 
received  the  ritual  of  celebrating  Mass  from  holy  men  of 
Britain ;  to  wit,  from  Saint  David  and  Saint  Gildas  and  Saint 
(Ca)  doc.  And  their  names  are  these  ;  to  wit,  Finnian,  Endeus, 
Colman,  Congal,  Aedh,  Kiaran,  Columba,  Brendan,  Brechen, 
Cainech,  Caemgin,  Laisrean,  Laisre,  Lugeus,  Barrideus,  and 
many  others,  who  were  in  the  second  grade  of  the  saints.^ 

"[599—666.] 
"  (3)  The  third  Order  of  Saints  was  like  this.  Now  they 
were  holy  priests  and  few  bishops,  100  in  number,  who  used  to 
dwell  in  desert  places.  They  lived  on  vegetables  and  water 
and  on  the  alms  of  the  faithful,  and  held  all  earthly  things  of 
no  account,  and  wholly  shunned  back-biting  and  slander. 
These  had  different  rules  (of  living)  and  different  rituals  of 
celebration,  and  also  different  tonsures,  for  some  had  the 
coronal  tonsure  and  some  the  hair.  And  they  had  a  different 
Paschal  solemnization,  for  some  celebrated  on  the  14th  and 
others  on  the  13th  moon.  This  Order  lasted  through  four 
reigns ;  that  is,  through  the  time  of  Aedh  Alair,  (recte  Slaine), 
who  reigned  only  three  years  ;  and  through  the  time  of  Domh- 
nail,  who  reigned  thirty  years ;  and  through  the  times  of  the 
sons  of  Maelcoba  and  (recte  the  sons  of)  Aedh  Slaine.  And  the 
Order  lasted  up  till  that  great  mortality  (A.D.  6(j6).  And  their 
names  are — Petran,  bishop  ;  Ultan,  bishop ;  Colman,  bishop  ; 
Edan,  bishop ;  Lomnan,  bishop ;  Senach,  bishop.  These  were 
all  bishops,  and  many  more.  And  these  now  were  the  priests — 
Fechan,  priest ;  Airendan,  Failan,  Commian,  Ernan,  Cronan, 
and  many  other  priests. 

'  The  names  are  quite  different  in  the  three  rescensious. 


322  EARLY    IRISH   HISTORY. 

"  (4)  Note  that  the  first  Order  was  holiest,  the  second  very 
holy,  the  third  holy.  The  first  glows,  like  the  sun,  with  the 
heat  of  charity ;  the  second,  like  .the  moon,  sheds  a  pallid 
light ;  the  third  shines  with  the  bright  hues  of  the  dawn. 

"  Taught  by  a  revelation  from  on  high,  Patrick  understood 
that  those  three  Orders  (were  signified)  when  he  beheld  in 
that  prophetic  vision  all  Ireland  filled  with  a  fiery  flame,  then 
the  mountains  alone  aglow,  and  afterwards  lamps  gleaming  in 
the  valleys.     This  is  extracted  from  an  old  life  of  Patrick.** 

"  (5)  Note  these  are  the  names  of  the  disciples  of  St.  Finnian 
of  Clonard ;  to  wit,  two  Kierans  (Kieran  the  son  of  the 
artificer  and  Kieran  of  Saighir)  ;  Colomba,  the  son  of  Crimthan 
and  Columkille ;  two  Brendans,  that  is  Brendan  the  son  of 
Finlog  and  Brendan  of  Birr ;  Mobhi  Claireneach ;  Lasrian,  the 
son  of  Nadfraech  ;  Sinell,  the  son  of  Maenach ;  Cainnech,  the 
son  of  the  grandson  of  Dalann  and  Ruadhan  of  Lorrha  ;  and 
Nimidh  (?)  of  the  Red  Hand ;  Mugenoe  of  Cillcimel  (?) ;  and 
Bishop  Sinach."' 

Incipit  catalogus  ordinum  Sanctorum  in  Hybernia  secundum 
diversa  teinpora : — 

(1)  Primus  ordo  sanctoiura  erat  in  tempore  Patricii.  Et  tuncerant 
episcopi  omnes  clari  et  sancti  et  spiritu  sancto  pleni,  cccl  numero, 
ecclesiaruui  fandatores,  unum  caput  Christum  colentes  et  unum  ducem 
Patriciam  sequentes  unam  tonsuram  habentes,  et  unam  celeb rationem 
missae,  et  unum  pascha  scilicet,  post  equinoctium  vernale  celebrabant, 
et  quod  excoramunicatum  essetab  una  ecclesia  omnes  excommunicabant. 
Mulierum  administrationem  et  consortia  non  respuebant,  quia  super 
petram  Christi  fundati  ventum  temptationis  non  timebant.  Hie  ordo, 
sanctorum  per  quatuor  duravit  regna  hoc  est  a  tempore  Leodhgarii  filii, 
Neyl  qui  regnavit  xxx**  vii.  annis  et  Ayllelli  cognomentoMolt  qui 
xxx**  annis  regnavit,  et  Lugdech  qui  vii  annos  regnavit.  Et  hie  ordo 
sanctorum  usque  ad  tempora  extrema  Tuathal  Meylgarb  duravit. 
Suncti  episcopi  omnes  permanserent  et  hi  pro  magna  parte  erant 
Franci  et  Bomani  et  Britones  et  Scoti  genere. 

(2)  2us  vero  ordo  sanctorum  talis  erat.  In  hoc  enim  secundo  ordine 
pauci  erant  episcopi  et  multi  presbiteri  numero  ccc'.     Unum   caput 

^  One  Ussherian  text,  instead  of  paragraph  4,  has  simply — "The  first  (Order) 
glowed  like  the  sun,  the  second  like  the  moon,  the  third  like  the  stars.  Primus 
sicut  sol  ardescit,  secundus  sicut  luna,  tertius  sicut  stellae." 

^  The  statement  that  the  2nd  order  had  different  masses,  etc. ,  and  introduced 
a  ritual  from  the  British  Church,  we  do  not  accept  as  probable  or  proven.  The 
history  of  the  Paschal  controversy  and  the  tonsure  shows,  as  we  shall  see  in  a 
future  chapter,  that  the  Gael  were  obstinately  conservative  in  such  matters.  The 
liturgical  aspect  of  the  question,  which  is  very  important,  we  must  leave  to  better 
equipped  critics  to  deal  with.  A  very  interesting  tract  on  the  various  liturgies 
will  be  found  in  Cardinal  Moran's  Essays,  p.  242.  See  Healy's  Insula  Sanctorum 
et  doctorum,  p.  201. 


THE   ORGANISATION   OF  THE  CHURCH.  323 

Deum  colentes  cliveraos  celebrandi  viLus  habebant  et  diversas  regulas 
vivendi,  et  unuiu  Pascha,  scilicet  xiiii*  luna  celebrabant.  Et  hi 
uniformem  tonsuram,  scilicet  ab  aiire  usque  ad  aurem,  faciebant. 
Mulierum  quoque  consortia  ac  administrationes  fugiebant  atque  a 
monasteriis  suis  eas  excludebant.  Hie  ordo  per  quaterna  adhuc  regna 
duravit,  scilicet  ab  extremis  Tuathal  Maylgairb  temporibus  et  per 
triginta  annos  quibus  Dcrraicius  Mac  Keirbaill  regnavit  et  per  tempus 
quo  duo  nepotesMureadaytur  qui  vii  annis  regnaverunt  et  per 
tempus  quo  Aed  Mac  Aynmerach  qui  xxx*^  annis  regnavit.  Hi  rituni 
celebrandi  missam  acceperunt  a  Sanctis  viris  de  Britannia,  scilicet  a 
sancto  David  et  sancto  Grilda  et  a  saneto  Doco.  Et  horum  nomina  sunt 
hec  scilicet  Finnianus,  Endeus,  Colmanus,  Congallus,  Aedeus 
Queranus,  Columba,  Brandanus,  Brichinus,  Caynecus,  Caymginus, 
Laysrianus,  Laysrius,  Lugeus,  Barrideus,  et  alii  multi  qui  erant  de 
secundo  gradu  sanctorum. 

(3)  3us  ordo  sanctoram  erat  talis.  Eraut  enim  illi  presbiteri  sancti 
et  pauci  episcopi  numero  c,  qui  in  locis  disertis  habitabant.  Hi 
oleribus  et  aqua  et  eleemosinis  fidelium  vivebant  et  omnia  terrena 
contempnebant  et  omnem  susurrationem  et  detractionem  penitus 
evitabant.  Hi  diversas  regulas  et  varios  celebrandi  ritus  habebant  et 
diversam  etiam  tonsuram ;  aliqui  enim  habebunt  coronam,  aliqui 
cesariem.  Et  hii  diversam  solempnitatem  Paschalem  habebunt ; 
alii  enim  xiiii'*  a  luna  alii  xiii^  celebrabant.  Hie  ordo  per  quatuar 
regna  duravit  hoc  est  per  tempus  Edaallain,  qui  tribus  annis  tantum 
regnavit  et  per  tempus  Domhnalli  qui  triginta  annis  regnavit  et  per 
tempora  filiorumu  Moylcoba  et  per  tempus  Eda  Slane  et  hie  ordo  usque 
ad  mortalitatem  illam  magnam  perduravit.  Quorum  nomina  sunt  hec 
Pertranua  episcopus,  Ultanus  episcopus,  Colmanus  episcopus,  Edanus 
3piscopu3,  Lompnanus  episcopus,  Senachus  episcopus,  Hii  episcopi 
Dmnes  et  alii  plures  Hii  vero  presbiteri :  Fechinus,  presbiter, 
Ayrendanus,  Faylanus,  Commenianus,  Colmanus,  Ernanus,  Cronanus 
at  alii  presbiteri  plures. 

(4)  Nota  quod  primus  ordo  erat  sanctissimus,  secundus  sanctior, 
tertius  sanctus.  Primus  sicut  sol  in  fervors  caritatis  calescit,  2u8  sicut 
luna  pallescit,  3us  sicut  aurora  splendescit.  Hos  tres  ordiues  beatus 
Patricius  superno  oraculo  edoctus  intellexit  cum  in  visione  ilia 
prophetica  vidit  totam  Hyberniam  flamma  ignis  repletam  deinde  montes 
tantum  ardere,  postea  lucernas  ardere  in  vallibus  conspexit.  Haec 
extracta  sunt  de  antiqua  vita  Patricii. 

(5).  Nota  Hec  sunt  nomina  discipulorum  sancti  Finneani  Cluana 
Hyrard  videlicet  duo  Kyerani,  Kyranus  filius  artificis  et  Kyeranus 
Saigre,  Columba  filius  Crimthainn  et  Columkyille,  duo  Brendani  id  est, 
Breudanus  filius  Finloga,  et  Brendanus  Birra,  Mobhi  Clarinetur,  et 
Lasrianus  filius  Naturfrec,  et  Synell  filius  Maenaci  et  Cainnecus 
filius  Nepotis  Dalann,  et  Rudan  Lothra,  et  Nannyd  Lamderc,  et 
Mugenocur  Killi  Cumili  et  episcopus  Senach.-^'^ 

The  codex  from  which  the  foregoing  was  printed  was 
endorsed  by  the  Bollandist  editors 

"  Ada  SS.  Hib.  ex.  cod.  Salm.,  p.  161. 


324  EARLY   IRISH   HISTORY. 

"MS.   SALMANTICENSE   DE   SS.   HIBERNLE.  ii" 

A  general  view  of  the  catalogue  reveals  some  startling 
statements.  In  the  first  paragraph  we  are  asked  to  believe 
that  in  the  time  of  St.  Patrick  there  were  350  or  450  bishops 
and  that  all  these  bishops  were  saints.  That  there  ever  were 
at  any  time  in  any  country  during  the  life  of  one  man  350 
bishops  all  saints,  the  clergy  themselves  would,  we  fancy,  be  the 
last  to  credit.  We  do  not  lay  much  stress  on  the  exaggerated 
figure  as  to  bishops,  we  regard  it  as  merely  a  monastic  way  of 
saying  that  the  number  was  excessively  large.  A  recent  writer 
(Sir  J.  Ramsey),  suggests  that  all  monastic  estimates  should  be 
divided  by  ten.  The  excessive  multiplication  of  saints,  however, 
not  only  in  this  text  but  in  many  others,  is  more  serious.  It  has 
prejudiced  the  claims  of  the  many  real  saints  to  official  recog- 
nition in  Rome.  Only  two  Gaelic  Saints  were  ever  canonized — 
St.  Malachy  and  St.  Laurence  O'Toole.  A  very  limited  number 
in  addition,  principally  the  patron  saints  of  dioceses,  were 
accorded  a  defined  ecclesiastical  position  towards  the  end  of 
the  last  century.  The  principal  reason  for  the  omission  was 
the  magnitude  of  the  number  and  the  looseness  of  the 
evidence.^- 

**  Fleming  has  some  valuable  and  interesting  pages  on  this  catalogue.  He 
states  that  about  the  year  1 626,  the  Rev.  Francis  Matthew,  the  Warden  of  their 
college  and  lately  Provincial,  had  got  copies  made  of  the  lives  of  very  many  of  the 
Irish  Saints  from  two  MS.  parchment  volumes,  one  belonging  to  Armagh  or 
Dublin,  and  then  in  tlie  library  of  Uasher,  and  the  other  belonging  to  the  Island 
of  all  the  Saints  (in  L.  Ree).  Aa  we  understand  him,  Fleming  found  in  the  copy 
codex  several  Lives,  one  of  St.  Patrick  by  "an  old  and  trusty  "  writer,  from  which  he 
quotes  verbatim  a  Catalogue  of  the  Orders  of  the  Saints,  corresponding  substan- 
tially to  paragraphs  1,  2,  3  and  4  of  the  Codex  Salmanticencis.  He  does  not  give 
or  suggest  the  name  of  the  "old  and  trusty"  writer.  He  adds  afterwards  (432, 
col.  2),  a  paragraph  which  corresponds  substantially  with  the  vision  paragraph  (5) 
of  the  Codex  Sahiianticencis.  There  is  no  authority  for  the  statement  made  by  Dr. 
O'Connor  that  the  catalogue  was  composed  by  Tirechan.  There  are  no  precise 
data  to  fix  an  approximate  date  for  its  composition.  If  the  "  copy  Codex "  re- 
ferred to  by  Fleming  is  in  the  archives  of  the  Franciscan  Convent  in  Dublin  further 
light  may  be  thrown  on  the  subject.  The  fact  that  the  catalogue  stops  at  666  A.D. 
is  not  of  much  weight,  as  the  Collection  of  Lives  in  which  it  appeared  may  have 
stopped  at  that  time,  and  the  writer  certainly  lived  some  centuries  later,  on  the 
most  favourable  view,  and  did  not  bring  the  precis  up  to  his  own  time.  Flemingius 
P.  Collectanea,  430.     The  catalogue  is  probably  an  expression  of  Jocelyn's  vision. 

^^  Francis  Harold  wrote  a  life  of  his  uncle,  Luke  Wadding  (1588-1667).  It 
is  very  interesting,  written  in  good  style  and  excellent  Latin,  worthy  to  rank  with 
the  conferences  of  Cassian.  He  mentions  that  Wadding,  then  a  man  of  powerful 
influence  at  Rome,  used  it  successfully,  apparently  with  some  difficulty,  to  obtain 
permission  for  a  special  Antiphon  verse  and  prayer  for  the  Universal  church  in 
lionor  of  St.  Patrick  on  his  feast  at  the  Irish  foundations  in  Rome  and  near  it. 
He  then  endeavoured  to  obtain  a  like  privilege  for  the  other  two  patrons  of 
Ireland,  St.  Columba  and  St.  Bridget,  but  died  before  he  had  succeeded,  and  it 
was  not  granted  at  that  time.     Vita  Annales  Minorum  (ed.  1731),  Vol.  I.,  cxxii. 


THE   OKGANISATION   OF   THE   CHURCfl.  325 

At  the  end  of  the  Life  of  Giraldus  of  Mayo,  the  Bollandists 
after  quoting  from  the  Litany  of  Aengus,  "  The  330  saints, 
with  Gerald,  bishop,  and  the  50  saints  of  Leyney,  in  Connact, 
who  dwelt  in  the  monastery  of  Mayo,  I  invoke,  through  Christ, 
&c.,"  add  : — "  The  Irish  would  not  have  been  so  liberal  in 
aanonising  in  troops  their  dead,  who  had  shown  more  than 
ordinary  virtue,  if  they  had  observed  the  practice  of  the 
Universal  Church,  which  conferred  the  honour  only  on  martyrs. 
But  as  to  those  who  had  not  been  known  to  have  won  the  prize 
of  martyrdom,  their  lives  were  examined  singly :  their  early, 
middle,  and  closing  years,  and  the  miracles  that  accompanied 
or  followed ;  and  severally  and  singly,  were  added  to  the  number 
of  those  who  may  be  ritually  invoked,  either  by  Pontifical 
decree  or  by  the  common  voice  of  a  Christian  people,  induced 
by  evident  and  frequent  miracles,  to  form  a  sure  belief  in  the 
'  saintship  '  of  the  individual."  ^^  This  rule  the  Irish  in  their 
'  pious  simplicity '  did  not  observe,  and  the  word  '  saint ' 
in  their  authors  should  be  held  to  be  equivalent  to  '  of  pious 
memory,'  of  '  happy  recollection,'  or  '  servant  of  God.' 

This  question  of  the  Irish  saints  is  so  important  that  we 
must  pursue  it  further.  We  venture  to  suggest  that  the 
inferences  that  have  been  drawn  from  the  Litany  of  Aengus 
should  be  reconsidered  and  modified.  An  examination  of  it  in 
connection  with  the  Epilogue  to  the  Feilire,  the  Ijtany  of  the 
Blessed  Virgin  and  the  Scuap  Chrabhaegh  (Broom  of  Piety) 
of  Colcu,  reveals,  we  think,  that  reference  was  made  to  these 
troojJS  for  a  special  purpose,  without  any  intention  of  claiming 
for  all  the  members  of  the  troop  the  rank  and  veneration  due 
to  saints  of  the  Catholic  Church.  Colcu  was  Ferleighen, 
probably  professor  of  theology,  at  Clonmacnoise,  the  tutor  and 
friend  of  Alcuin,  and  died  in  792  A.D.  His  litany  or  prayer  is 
divided  into  two  parts.  "  The  first  consists  of  28  petitions  or 
paragraphs,  each  beseeching  the  forgiveness  and  mercy  of 
Jesus,  through  the  intercession  of  some  class  of  the  holy  men 
of  the  Old  or  New  Testament."  i^ 

Again  Aengus,  in  the  Epilogue  to  the  Feilire,  states  that  he 
laid  under  contribution  for  the  Feilire,  "  the  vast  tome  of 
Ambrose   Hilary's  pious   sensus,   Jerome's   Antigraph,  Euse- 

«  Boll,  Ada,  SS.,  xi.,  288  (March  13). 

"  Colgan  sayg  of  the  .Sctiaij  :  "  Est  fasciculus  ardentissimaruni  precum  per 
modmn  cjuodauiaiodu  LiLaiiiarum." 


326  EARLY   IRISH   HISTORY. 

bius'  martyrology,  and  Erin's  host  of  books."  **  "  Lest,  how- 
ever," writes  Archbishop  Healy,  "  any  might  be  jealous  for 
being  omitted,  he  invokes  them  in  the  third  part  (the  epilogue) 
under  certain  general  heads,  patriarchs,  prophets,  virgins, 
martyrs,  etc.,  so  that  not  a  single  one  of  the  heavenly  orders, 
at  home  or  abroad,  can  complain  of  the  want  of  some  reference 
to  his  or  her  memory."  ^^  As  regards  the  saints  of  the  Old 
Testament,  it  was  a  prominent  teaching  found,  for  instance,  in 
Callia,  that  the  Lord,  after  the  Passion,  took  up  to  heaven 
a  multitude  of  saints,  who  had  been  waiting  for  the  redemp- 
tion. 

The  script  known  as  the  Litany  of  Aengus  has  reached  us, 
in  the  Book  of  Leinster  (1150  c),  and  in  the  Leahhar  Breac. 
It  is  imperfect  in  the  latter  and,  as  we  think,  also  in  the  former. 
It  is  contained  in  the  "  Isidore  Leaves,"  which  formed  part  of  the 
Book  of  Leinster,  were  missing  from  it,  found  in  St.  Isidore's, 
Rome,  and  are  now  in  the  Franciscan  Convent  in  Dublin. 
They  are  printed  in  the  facsimile  pp.  355  of  the  Book  of 
Leinster  .^"^ 

On  examining  the  text  of  the  Litany  in  the  Book  of  Leinster 
we  find  that  it  consists  of  groups  of  bishops,  priests,  pilgrims, 
anchorites,  monks,  martyrs,  innocent  youths,  Romans,  Gauls, 
Saxons,  and  Egyptians ;  disciples  with  Manchan ;  the  twelve 
men  who  went  beyond  the  sea  with  Rive ;  the  descendants  of 
Corra,  with  their  seven  companions;  the  persons  who  went 
with  St,  Patrick  to  Mount  Armoin  (?),  etc.,  etc. ;  and  finally 
the  text  ends  with  141  groups  of  seven  bishops  each,  each  group 
having  a  "  place-name  "  (e.g.,  of  Ardpatrick)  attached  to  it, 
meaning  who  were  buried  there.  In  the  Ecclesiastical  Record 
text  the  writer  places  after  the  first  and  succeeding  groups  the 
words  of  invocation,  All  these  I  invoke  unto  my  aid  through 
Jesus  Christ.  The  writer  states  he  collated  the  text  in  the 
Isidore  Leaves,  i.e.,  in  the  Book  of  Leinster,  with  the  text  in 
the  Leahhar  Breac,   and   heads  his  translation,    "  From  the 

^*  Stokes,  Feilire,  cxcii. 

^^  Jnsida  Sancfori/m,  4:11.  The  author  gives  his  preference  to  the  date  801 
A.D,  for  Feilire.  Stokes  would  have  it  a  century  or  more  later.  But  this  view 
rests  mainly  on  linguistic  forms,  an  insecure  foundation,  in  our  judgment,  in  a 
period  of  transition  from  the  Old  to  the  Middle  Gaelic. 

"  On  the  intricate  and  obscure  subject  of  the  texts,  see  Atkinson,  Pref.  to 
the  Book  of  Leinster. 

The  Leahhar  Breac  wants  at  the  beginning  ten  or  twelve  groups  of  saints. 

A  text  is  given  in  the  3rd  vol.  (1867)  of  the  Eccl.  Record  Ir,,  pp.  385,  468, 
witK  a  translation,  to  which  we  shall  refer. 


THE   ORGANISATION   OF  THE   CHURCH.  327 

Book  of  Leinster."  ^*  This  is  inaccurate,  and  a  very  serious 
inaccuracy.  It  is  only  at  the  ninth  or  tenth  group  in  the 
Book  of  Leinster  that  we  find  words  of  invocation  or  rather 
letters  representing  words,  viz.,  All  these  whose  names  are 
written  in  Heaven  ^^  I  invoke  to  ray  aid  (hos  omnes  quorum 
nomina  scripta  sunt  in  coelis  invoco  ad  auxilium  meum).  This 
was,  we  suggest,  a  short  form  for  a  longer  form  in  the  first  part 
of  the  Litany,  which  is  now  wanting,  in  which  it  was  made 
clear  somehow,  as  by  the  words  "  per  Christum  "  that  it,  was 
their  intercession  that  was  asked  for.  If  the  Litany  originally 
commenced  with  the  first  group  in  the  present  text,  we  should 
expect  to  find  the  full  invocation  there.  And,  further,  in  the 
Book  of  Leinster  we  find  the  first  nine  or  ten  groups  followed 
by  another  series  of  groups,  and  these  followed  by  the  words 
or  letters  jper  Jesum  only,  which  clearly  refer  to  a  complete 
invocation  not  now  found  in  the  existing  text.  It  is  also  very 
persuasive  proof  that  the  text  is  imperfect  in  the  Book  of 
Leinster,  as  well  as  in  the  Leabhar  Breac,  that  no  appeal  is 
made  to  the  three  patron  saints  of  Erin,  nor  to  the  Finnians, 
Brendans,  Congall,  Ciaran,  Columbanus,  etc.  It  seems  to  ns 
incredible  that  all  these  great  national  saints  should  have  been 
omitted  from  such  a  Litany.  We  suggest  that  the  groups 
were  preceded  by  an  enumeration  of  the  great  saints  singly, 
and  that  the  groups  were  added  ex  majori  cautela,  as  they 
were  in  the  ^e^^i^'e,  lest  there  should  be  any  saints  "whose 
names  were  written  in  the  Heavens "  left  unnoticed.  It  is 
quite  possible  that  Ward  found  something  of  the  sort  in  the 
texts  before  him.  His  observations  point,  we  think,  to  an 
enumeration  of  names  singly.  An  invocation  after  each  group 
without  names  would  not  assist  him  in  making  a  list  of  saints 
of  the  same  name  and  surname.,  which  was  the  object  he  had  in 
view.     He  writes  : — 

When  I  had  almost  finished  making  a  list  of  the  saints  of  the  same 
name  and  surname  .  .  .  there  came  from  the  brethren  in  the 
Convent  in  Donegal  in  Ireland  a  manuscript  copy  of  a  codex,  the  parch- 
ment and  writiog  of  which  were  so  eaten  away  (and  obliterated)  by 
time   that  in  places  it   could  not  be  read,  and  betokened  an  age  of  at 

"  The  heading  of  the  Caelio  text  on  the  opposite  page  is,  we  are  surprised  to 
find,  "  SlechtLeabliar  AedhaMoio  Crimthain  inso  sis — An  extract  fri.ni  the i^oo/t 
of  Aedh  Mac  Crimt/iiun  down  Iiere,"  which  explains  a  good  deal.  This  ie  not  the 
Booi-  of  Leinster  text.     Ecc.  Rec,  1869,  p.  300. 

'*  This  would  exclude  the  meiabere  of  the  group  whose  names  were  not  writtsa 
in  Heaven. 


328  EARLY    IRISH   HISTORY. 

least  700  years,  which  was  confirmed  by  the  fact  that  the  author 
omitted  the  saints  of  that  age,  though  they  would  have  answered  his 
purpose  as  well  as  those  more  ancient  whom  he  enumerates  as  often, 
repeating  these  words  in  Latin — quorum  noviina  scrijjta  in  ccelis  hos 
omnes  invoco  adauxilium  meum,  i.e.,  "  whose  names  have  been  written  in 
Heaven,  all  those  I  invoke  to  aid  me Z'^" 

Regarding  the  Consortia  Mulierum,  the  Rev.  Mr.  Olden 
takes  a  very  different  view  of  the  meaning  of  this  sentence 
from  ours.  Consortium,  he  thinks,  is  not  equivalent  to  societas, 
but  has  a  technical  meaning  "  signifying  the  association  of  a 
woman  vowed  to  perpetual  chastity  with  an  ecclesiastic,  both 
occupying  the  same  house  and  living  together  as  brother  and 
sister."  In  the  Eastern  church,  he  says:  "Such  unions  were 
known  as  awehaKTai  ayairr)rai  and  ah\(fiui  in  the  West  as  consortes 
(hence  consortium)  mulieres  subintroductae  and  perhaps 
more  generally  as  sorores.  .  .  The  Council  of  Nicaea  passed 
a  canon  aeainst  consortium.*'^'^ 

The  Srd  canon  of  the  Council  of  Nicaea  (325)  forbade  any 
bishop  or  other  cleric  to  have  in  his  house  a  avytiaai^TOQ 
(subintroducta)  that  is  any  woman  living  in  the  house  with 
him,  unless  his  mother,  sister,  aunt,  or  such  other  person  as  was 
free  from  all  suspicion.  Hefele  observes  on  this  canon  "In 
the  first  ages  of  the  church  some  Christians,  clergymen  and 
laymen,  contracted  a  sort  of  spiritual  marriage  with  unmarried 
persons  so  that  they  lived  together,  but  there  was  not  a  sexual 
but  a  spiritual  connection  between  them  for  their  mutual 
spiritual  advancement.  They  were  known  by  the  name  oi 
ovreiadKTOL  ayQTTTjTai  and  sorores.  That  which  began  in  the 
spirit,  however,  in  many  cases  ended  in  the  flesh,  on 
which  account  the  church  very  stringently  forbade  such  unions, 
even  with  penalties  more  severe  than  those  with  which  she 
punished  concubinage,  for  it  happened  that  Christians  who 
would  have  recoiled  from  concubinage,  formed  one  of  those 

^^  As  Ward's  book  is  ver}'  rare,  we  quote  a  short  extract : — Drnn  in  obstii- 
pendahac  multitudine  sanctorum  ejusdeni  nominis  coguouiinis  etc.,  colligeiidi  ver- 
sarer  pene  actum,  agere  videbarubi  exemplar  cujusdam  Msi.  Codicis  a  Dungallensis 
Moiiastarii  fratribus  in  Hibernia  superveuit  vetustate  itacorosaeiiam  cum  charac- 
teribus  membranea  ut  alicubi  legi  nequiverit,  et  septem  saltern  sa3culorum  anti- 
quitatem  praeferat  si  prsesertim  consideremus  authorem  omisisse  sanctos  hujm 
isetatis  quanquam  ad  institutum  ejus  aequo  facerent  atque  antiquiores  qiios  recensuit 
et  toties  repetitis  his  verbis  Latinis  "  quorum  nomiiia  scripta  sunt  iu  cadis  lioa 
omnes  invoco  ad  auxilium  meum."  H.  Ward  (Vardeus)  ^cto  <S.  Eumholdi,2(ii. 
Colgan  refers  to  the  Litany,  Acta  SS.  I,.  581. 

"Proc.  %.  Ir.  Acad.  (1893)  vol.  III.  3<»  Ser.  p.  4-15  on  the  Cuasortia 
1st  Order  of  the  Irish  Saints. 


THE   ORQANISATIOiV   OF  THE  CHURCH.  329 

spiritual  unions,  and  in  doing  so,  foll.''-^  We  are  not  aware  of 
any  text  in  which  consors  simply,  i.e.,  without  a  context,  is 
used  as  equivalent  to  soror  or  consortia  simply  used  to 
designate  these  spiritual  unions. 

The  case  of  bishop  Mel  of  Ardagh  which  he  cites,  appears  to 
us  to  be  decisive  against  the  Rev.  Mr.  Olden's  views.  The 
bishop  and  his  (siur)  his  kinswoman,  or,  as  Mr.  Olden  suggests, 
his  spiritual  sister,  "  used  to  be  in  one  habitation  praying 
to  the  Lord."  Scandal  was  given  by  this,  which  rumour  carried 
to  the  ears  of  Saint  Patrick.  He  went,  forthwith,  to  Ardagh, 
and  inquired  into  the  matter.  "  Then  Patrick  knew  that  there 
was  no  sin  between  them,  but  said  :  '  Let  men  and  women  be 
apart  so  that  we  may  be  found  not  to  give  opportunity  to  the 
weak,  and  so  that  by  us  the  Lord's  name  be  not  blasphemed, 
which  be  far  from  us.*  And  thus  he  left  them  with  Brith  Leith 
between  them ;  she  in  Druim  Chea  to  the  west  of  Bri  Leith 
and  he  to  the  east  of  it  in  Ard  Acha  (Ardagh).-^'*  We  do  not 
think  a  spiritual  union  is  referred  to  here,  but  if  the  relation 
was  such,  it  was  promptly  stamped  out  by  the  Saint.  Surely 
it  is  not  conceivable  that  350  saints,  or  any  number  of  them, 
should  be  living  openly  in  contumacious  defiance  of  the  canons 
and  anathemas  of  an  CEecumenical  council. 


22  Hefele  Councils  (Clark)  vol.  I.  380. 

23  Trip.     Ufe.  91. 


[    330     ] 


CHAPTER  XXIII. 

THE   MONKS.l 

7i/T0NAGHUS,  Solitarius,  Monk,  signified  originally  a 
man  who  lived  by  himself,  alone,  solitary,  retired  from 
the  world  (avaxwp^rj/e),  a  dweller  in  the  desert,  a  hermit 
(Ip^/i/r^c).  When  the  monks  or  solitaries,  of  whom  the  most 
celebrated  was  Paulus  in  Egypt,  were  trained  in  the  ways  of  a 
common  life,  under  an  abbot,  by  St.  Antony  (264-356),  the 
essential  principles  of  monasticism,  as  it  afterwards  came  to  be 
known  in  the  West,  were  solidly  established.  Sexual  solitari- 
ness was  secured  by  the  vow  of  chastity,  which,  as  understood, 
excluded  the  marriage  tie.  Living  under  the  rule  of  an  abbot 
implied  the  vow  of  obedience,  which  involved  the  renunciation 
of  the  individual  will  in  all  things  not  contrary  to  God's  law. 
One  would  have  expected  when  the  monasteries  multiplied 
and  the  monks  came  to  be  reckoned  by  thousands  in  Egypt, 
that  a  rule  would  be  drawn  up,  not  only  for  ordering  the 
internal  discipline  in  each  monastery,  but  also  for  the  common 
government  and  control  of  all  collectively.  But  St.  Antony 
refused  to  write  a  rule  for  his  disciples  ;  he  said  that  the 
precepts  of  the  Gospel  were  sufficient.  Macarius  (394)  how- 
ever is  regarded  by  some  as  the  author  of  the  rule  which  bears 
his  name.  When  he  went  into  the  Nitrian  region,  the  mountain 
on  its  western  extremity  was  tilled  with  solitaries,  and  grouped 

^  This  chapter  deals  only  with  cenobite  monks  and  with  the  reoognised  rules 
and  "use"  of  community  life.  The  special  austerities  of  individuals,  whether 
recluses,  incluses  (we  believe  there  were  none  in  Erin),  or  cenobites,  do  not  come 
within  the  scope  of  this  chapter.  Compared  with  what  we  may  call  hermit  life  in 
France  and  Italy,  they  present  no  feature  of  exceptional  severity.  We  give  a  few 
dates  here  for  the  founding  of  the  following  monasteries,  which  are  at  least  approxi- 
mately correct  : — 

A.D.  270,  The  Thebaid,  St.  Anthony  ...  250-356 

320,  Tabeuisi  (Tabenna),  St.  Pachomius,  285-.345 
36.3,  Metaza  Pontus,  St.  Basil,  329  ...  329-379 

374,  Marmoutier,  near  Tours,  St.  Martin,  316-337 
410,  Lerins  (S.  Honorat),  St.  Honoratus,  +  429 
410  (c),  St.  Victor,near  Marseilles,  Cas.sian,  360-456 
490,  Aries  Monastery  at,  St.  Caesariuss  ...  468-542 
529.  Monte  Cassino,  St.  Benedict  ..    480-543 

563,  lona,  St.  Coluinba,  ...  ..    524-597 

596,  Luxcuil,  St.  Columbanus  ..    540-613 


THE   MONKS.  331 

around  him  in  the  eastern  part  of  the  district  of  the  Natron 
lakes  (in  which  was  in  after  time  the  famous  city  of  Sceta, 
about  43  miles  west  of  Cairo),  arose  thousands  of  cells  of 
solitaries  whose  lives  were  devoted  to  labour  and  prayer  and 
fasting  and  vigils.  They  slept,  ate,  and  worked  alone,  but  met 
at  stated  times  for  prayer.  They  fasted  not  only  from  food, 
but  what  was  still  more  trying,  from  sleep.  Herbs  and  roots, 
salt  and  water,  supplied  the  necessaries  of  life.  A  little  bread 
constituted  a  feast.  Their  labour  was  well  organised  and 
almost  incessant.  They  wove  mats  from  the  reeds  which  grew 
in  the  district,  and  procured  by  the  sale  of  them  all  that  they 
required.  They  were  not  bound  to  this  common  life,  if  it  can 
be  called  such,  and  they  frequently  passed  into  the  hermit  life, 
which  was  considered  holier.  Up  to  this  time  there  were 
collections  of  so-called  rules,^  which  contained  valuable  precepts, 
but  there  was  no  body  of  rules  purporting  to  be  a  code  or 
constitution  for  monastic  government.  It  was  not  till  the 
time  of  Pachomius  (292-348)  that  community  life  proper — 
what  is  now  known  as  monastic  life — began.  Pachomius  was 
at  first  a  soldier  in  the  Roman  army.  After  his  conversion  he 
otFered  himself  as  a  disciple  to  Palemon,  who  had  been  a  disciple 
of  St.  Antony.  Palemon  at  first  refused  to  receive  him.  "  My 
food,"  said  he,  "  is  bread  and  salt ;  I  abstain  from  wine  alto- 
gether ;  I  watch  half,  sometimes  the  whole  night,  praying  and 
reading  the  Divine  Word."  Pachomius  said  he  was  prepared 
for  this,  and  Palemon  then  consecrated  him  to  God,  with  the 
monk's  habit  (habitw  vionacJd  eum  consecravit),  and  laid  upon 
him  the  injunction  "  to  labour  and  to  watch  "  (labora  et  vigila). 
Later  on  Pachomius  founded  the  celebrated  monastery  of 
Tabenna,  or  Tabenisi  (the  Palms  of  Isis),^  on  an  island  in  the 
Nile.  His  rule,  known  as  the  Angel's  rule,*  is  given  in  the 
22  ad  chapter  of  the  Life  of  Pachomius,  by  an  unknown  author, 

'  Collected  in  Migne,  vol.  100, 

'Tabenna  is  an  island  near  Kench  and  Denderah,  414  miles  by  river,  south  of 
Cairo,  and  40  north  of  Luxor,  or  Thebes.  The  territory  of  Thebes,  the  Thebaid, 
normally  extended  from  Hermopolis  JMagna,  180  miles  south  of  Cairo,  to  Syeiie 
(Assouam),  590  miles  from  Cairo.  This  Thebais  Palladius  divides  into  Upper 
Thebais,  from  Syene  (Assouam)  to  Lycopolis  (Aasiont)  and  Lower  Thebais,  from 
Assiont  to  Cairo.  Later  writers  commonly  adopt  this  division.  Lower  Egypt 
extended,  according  to  this  division,  from  Cairo  (the  Pyramids)  to  the  sea.  From 
Syene  to  the  sea  is  520  miles. 

*  Legend  said  that  an  angel  first  brought  it,  written  on  bronze  tablets.  This 
must  be  taken  as  an  oriental  way  of  saying  that  it  was  divinely  inspired.  Miune. 
vol.28,  p.  59.  J       f  to    , 


332  EARLY    IRISH   HISTORY. 

supposed  to  be  a  contemporary,  and  was  translated  into  Latin 
by  Dionysius  Exiguus.     It  runs  (in  part)  as  follows  : — 

You  shall  permit  each  to  eat  and  drink  according  to  his  strength, 
and  compel  him  to  labour  in  proportion  to  what  he  eats,  and  shall  not 
prevent  any  from  eating  in  moderation  or  from  fasting  (i.e.,  at  his 
choice).  You  shall  impose  heavier  work  on  the  strongest  and  those 
that  eat;  lighter  on  those  that  are  weaker  and  fast.  Lot  each  be 
clothed  at  night  with  a  linen  tunic,  girdled.  You  shall  make  separate 
cells  and  ordain  that  three  shall  remain  in  each  cell.  Let  each  have  a 
melotes  (i.e.,  a  white  dressed  goat-skin),  without  which  let  him  neither 
eat  nor  sleep.  However,  when  approaching  the  Sacraments  of  Christ, 
let  him  undo  his  girdle  and  lay  aside  his  melotes,  and  wear  only  his 
cowl  (cucidla). 

Then  came  a  command  as  to  distributing  the  monks.  He 
divided  the  brethren  into  regiments,  numbered  with  the  letters 
of  the  alphabet,  "  i,"  the  simplest,  representing  the  untrained, 
and  "  ^,"  the  most  complicated,  representing  the  most  forward 
and  disciplined. 

They  should  remain  permanently  (jugiter)  in  the  monastery 
and  labour  with  their  hands  for  three  years  before  entering  on 
more  sacred  studies.  Each  when  eating  should  cover  his 
head,  not  look  at  his  neighbours,  and  keep  silence.  He  was  to 
say  twelve  prayers  in  the  day,  twelve  in  the  evening,  and 
twelve  at  night.  Additional  prayers  might  be  said  in  the  cells 
by  the  more  perfect.  This  rule,  as  it  was  afterwards  completed 
by  Theodoras  and  Orsisius,  St.  Jerome  translated  into  Latin  from 
a  Greek  version,  in  401  A.D.,  prefixing  a  short  but  very  interest- 
ing preface.  There  were  then  numerous  monasteries  in  the 
deserts  of  the  Thebaid.  Each  monastery  consisted  of  thirty  or 
forty  houses  {domiis)  under  an  overseer  (praepositus) ;  each 
house  consisted  of  thirty  or  forty  brethren,  and  three  hundred 
and  four  houses  made  a  tribe  (tribus).  The  brethren  of  the  same 
craft  occupied  the  same  house.  Thus,  the  linen-weavers,  the 
mat- weavers,  the  tailors,  carpenters,  fullers,  sandal-makers,  were 
governed  separately,  each  by  an  overseer.  Accounts  of  the  work 
done  were  rendered  weekly  to  the  "  Father  "  of  the  monastery. 
These  accounts  and  the  accounts  of  the  sales  of  the  articles 
made  in  each  monastery  were  submitted  for  audit  to  the  high 
steward  {oeconomus)  of  all  the  monasteries  once  a  year.  . 

Two  general  assemblies  were  held  every  j-ear  in  August  and 
at  Easter,  at  which  all  the  brethren  not  absolutely  required  at 
the  monasteries  attended — to  the  number,  St.  Jerome  Sfiys,  of 


THE  MONKS.  333 

50,000.  This  seems  almost  incredible.  After  Pachomius  removed 
his  residence  from  Tabenisi  to  the  more  central  monastery  at 
Peboou,  tho  meetings  took  place  there.  He  remained  superior- 
general  of  all  the  monasteries  till  his  death,  before  which  he 
designated  his  successor,  who  designated  his  successor  in  like 
manner.^  And  so  Schnoodi  in  the  following  century  designated 
or  appointed  Visa  to  succeed  him.  The  superior-general 
appointed  the  heads  of  the  daughter  houses,  and  changed  them 
about  at  his  discretion  ;  was  in  fact  a  spiritual  autocrat.  To 
anticipate  a  little,  we  may  mention  here  that  Columba 
named  or  designated  Baethin  as  his  successor,  and  the 
superiors  of  the  affiliated  monasteries  received  their  charge 
from  him.  The  succeeding  abbots  of  lona — it  is  not  clear 
whether  they  were  designated  or  elected — were  confined  to 
St.  Columba's  kindred  until  the  11th  abbot.*^ 

Cassian  bears  the  following  testimony  as  to  the  discipline 
he  observed  at  Tabenna : — "  The  monastery  of  the  monks  of 
Tabenna  in  the  Thebaid  is  better  fitted  as  regards  numbers,  as 
it  is  more  strict  in  the  rigour  of  its  system  than  all  others, 
for  there  are  in  it  more  than  5,000  brethren  under  the  rule  of 
one  abbot ;  and  the  obedience  with  which  the  whole  number 
of  monks  is  at  all  times  subject  to  one  elder,  is  what  no  one 
among  us  would  render  to  another  even  for  a  short  time  or 
demand  from  him."" 

Before  leaving  the  Egyptian  monasteries  a  further  remark 
may  be  appropriate.  There  are  those  who  regard  their 
strenuous  asceticism  and  that  of  the  kindred  Gaelic  institutions 
as  useless  or  bordering  on  insanity.  They  do  not  reflect  that, 
as  in  the  case  of  bodily  infirmities,  the  physic  that  cures  one 
generation  will  not  in  many  cases  cure  the  next,  and  will  be 
displaced  by  a  drug  suited  to  altered  conditions  of  life,  so  in 
the  spiritual  order  spiritual  remedies  must  be  varied  from  age 
to  age.  We  deem  it  fitting  to  quote,  for  the  enlightenment  of 
these  critics,  the  following  testimony  of  Sozomen,  a  Greek 
lawyer  who  wrote  in  the  first  half  of  the  5th  century : — 

"  The  monasteries  of  Egypt  were  governed  by  several  individuals  of 

'  Migne,  vol.  23,  p.  64.  The  above  is  the  view  of  Amilineau  E.,  who  has  studied 
the  Greek,  Latin,  and  Coptic  writers  on  this  subject.  There  is  practically  no 
difference  of  opinions  anaong  them. — Dt  Historia  Lausiaca,  p.  14. 

P.  Ladenze,  Le  Cenobitisme  Falchomien,  286. 

*  Afterwards  the  abbot  is  said  to  have  been  elected  of  the  men  "  of  Alba  and 
Erin  "  when  Hy  lost  its  supremacy.   This  is  very  vague. — Reeves'  Adamnun,  p.  364. 


334  EARLY   IRISH   HISTORY. 

eminent  sanctity,  who  were  strenuously  opposed  to  the  heresy  of  Arius. 
The  people  who  were  neither  willing  nor  competent  to  enter  into  the 
doctrinal  questions,  received  their  opinions  from  them,  and  thought 
with  them,  for  they  were  persuaded  that  men  whose  virtue  was 
manifested  by  their  deeds  were  in  possession  of  the  truth."  * 

The  monasticiem  of  the  Gael  played  such  an  important 
part,  not  only  in  the  history  of  Erin  but  in  the  evangelisation 
and  secular  civilisation  of  Europe  that,  we  think,  a  somewhat 
lengthy  examination  of  its  constitution  and  scope  will  not  be 
out  of  place  here,  in  what  is  primarily  a  secular  history.  And 
in  the  first  place  let  us  say  something  about  monastic  rules 
before  comparing  them  with  the  Gaelic  usages. 

To  regulate  the  lives  of  the  thousands  who  embraced  the 
cenobitical  life  in  Egypt  there  must  have  been  a  very  efficient 
organization.  The  government  of  5,000  monks  in  a  single 
monastery  must  have  been  a  very  difficult  matter,  and  it  was 
probably  a  still  more  difficult  task  to  enforce  due  subordination 
and  obedience  in  daughter  houses.  Yet  we  hear  nothing  of 
mutiny  or  revolt.  The  rules  and  regulations  by  which  this  end 
was  attained,  if  they  were  reduced  to  writing  before  the  time 
of  Pachbmius,  have  not  reached  us. 

The  customs  of  Cluny  were  in  use  for  a  long  time  before 
they  were  reduced  to  a  kind  of  code,  about  1009,  by  the 
"  religious "  in  Farfa.  The  monks  at  Cluny,  practising  them 
day  by  day,  felt  no  need  to  form  them  into  a  supplementary 
written  rule,  and  they  were  preserved  solely  by  tradition.  No 
complete  or  authoritative  redaction  of  the  customs  is  of  earlier 
date  than  1085,  when  Udalric  wrote  the  Antiquiores  Consue-- 
tudines  Cluniacenses  for  the  Monastery  of  Hirschau  in  Wur- 
temburg,  printed  in  Achery's  Spicilegium  I.  641,  Constitii- 
tiones  Monasticoe. 

In  an  adequate  and  comprehensive  rule  we  should  expect  to 
find  regulations  dealing  (1)  with  internal  or  spiritual  discip- 
line ;  (2)  with  external  conduct ;  (3)  providing  a  constitution 
for  the  government  of  each  monastery  separately;  and  (4) 
providing  for  the  government  of  a  large  number  of  houses  in 
obedience  to  the  same  rule  in  their  relation  to  a  chief  monastery 
and  to  each  other. 

The  first  requirement  was  in  early  times  the  most  important. 
A  chapter  of  the  rule  was  read  in  chapter  every  morning.     This 

8  Eccl.  Hist.  VI.  20,  vol.  ii,,  p.  357,  Libr.  Nicene  Fathers. 


THE   MONKS.  335 

would  supplement  the  merits  or  supply,  in  some  measure,  the 
deficiencies  of  the  abbot.  There  was  not,  however,  we  may 
observe,  much  danger  that  without  written  matter  there  would 
be  any  shortcomings  in  homiletic  exposition  amongst  the  per- 
fervid  Gael.  St.  Basil's  rule^  was,  in  this  view,  the  earliest,  and 
it  remains  still  unrivalled  foi*  richness,  variety,  and  culture. 
The  son  of  an  advocate  and  rhetor,  Basil  made  his  higher  studies 
in  philosophy,  law,  and  literature  at  Athens,  where  he  had 
as  school-fellows  Gregory  Nazianzen  and  Julian  the  Apostate. 
After  practising  as  advocate  for  some  time  at  Csesarea  he  turned 
his  thoughts  to  monasticism  at  the  instance  of  his  sister 
Macrina,  who  had  devoted  herself  to  the  religious  life.  He 
repaired  to  Egypt  and  studied  the  ascetic  life  there  as  well  as 
in  Palestine  and  elsewhere,  and  returning  to  Csesarea,  retired 
to  a  solitude  in  Pontus  on  the  river  Iris,  where  his  father  had 
an  estate.  Here  he  established  in  due  course  a  monastery, 
and  afterwards  (370)  became  Bishop  of  Caesarea.  It  is  to  his 
many-sided  training  and  experience  that  the  excellence  of  his 
rule  in  the  respect  we  have  mentioned  must  be  mainly  attri- 
buted. The  rule  is  written  in  good  Greek,  and  has  reached  us 
in  a  long  and  a  short  form.^**  It  is  by  way  of  question  and 
answer,  the  answer  being  generally  a  short  lecture  or  discourse 
on  various  topics  of  spiritual  interest  admirably  suited  for 
reading  in  chapter.  It  formed,  as  it  were,  a  little  code  of 
spiritual  discipline.  We  find  nothing  to  correspond  to  this  in 
the  Gaelic  Church.  What  is  called  the  rule  of  St.  Columba 
does  not  purport,  on  the  face  of  it,  to  be  a  rule  or  to  be  by  St. 
Columba.  It  consists  merely  of  a  few  short  maxims  intended 
apparently  for  a  hermit,  and  described  by  Colgan  as  Regula 
Eremitica.  It  is  most  unfair  to  describe,  as  is  sometimes 
done,  this  little  collection  as  the  rule  of  St.  Columba  or  (as  is 

•  The  amra  (eulogy)  of  Columba,  690  A.D.  (c.)  has  the  following  -. — 
He  used  Basil's  judgments. 

He  made  known  books  of  law  as  Cassian  loved. 
Sloinnpuf  tei5  tebjiu  Libuitt  wc  c&\i  CAff lAti. 

—Sev.  Celt.  XX.  181,  256. 

The  amra  is  a  complete  piece  of  artificial  alliterative  prose.  It  consists  of  a 
prefatory  prayer  to  God  and  forty  paragraphs  divided  into  ten  chapters.  It  deala 
(1)  with  the  sorrow  of  the  Gael  for  his  death  ;  (2)  his  asaent  to  heaven  ;  (3)  his 
place  in  heaven;  (4)  his  sufferings,  and  the  devil's  hatred  of  him  ;  ,5)  his  wisdom 
and  gentleness  ;  (6)  his  charity  and  abstinence  ;  (7)  his  knowledge  and  foresight  ; 
(8)  King  Aed's  commission  to  the  author ;  (9)  the  special  grief  ot  the  tJi  TieiL  (hia 
clansmen) ;  (10)  the  virtues  of  the  Am|iA  Coloimb  Citte.— Stokes,  Rev.  Celt.  xx.l2. 

^*  Migne,  Series  (Jroica.  xxxi.   306. 


336  EARLY   IRISH   HISTORY. 

more  frequently  done  without  describing  it  accurately),  com- 
pare it  with  the  rule  of  St.  Basil  or  St.  Benedict,  and  then 
point  out  triumphantly  how  inferior  was  the  rule  of  St. 
Columba.     The  following  are  samples  from  it : — 

Be  alone  in  a  separate  place  near  a  chief  city  if  thy  conscience  is 
not  prepared  to  live  in  common  with  the  crowd,  i.e,  community. 

Let  a  fast  place  with  one  door  enclose  thee. 

A  mind  prepared  for  red  martyrdom. 

A  mind  fortified  and  steadfast  for  white  martyrdom,  i.e.,  mortifica- 
tion. 

Take  not  of  food  till  thou  art  hungry. 

Sleep  not  till  thou  feelest  desire. 

Three  labours  in  the  day — prayer,  work,  and  reading. 

The  measure  of  prayer  shall  be  until  tears  come,  and  the  measure  of 
thy  work  till  tears  come  or  until  the  perspiration  come  if  thy  tears  are 
not  free. 

It  is  absurd  to  call  this  a  rule  of  St.  Columba,  with  Adam- 
nan's  Life  before  us.'^ 

As  regards  the  external  conduct  of  the  monks  there  are  in 
the  rules  of  St.  Basil  many  excellent  directions  and  maxims  of 
spiritual  prudence,  but  the  arrangement  is  unmethodical. 
From  this  point  of  view  St.  Benedict's  rule  is  better  arranged, 
and  more  practical,  but  its  directive  and  coercive  power  is 
dangerously  weakened  by  leaving  so  many  important  points 
subject  to  unlimited  variation  at  the  discretion  and  dispensation 
of  the  abbot.  Both  rules  alike  are  animated  with  the  same 
spirit  of  fatherly  care  and  tenderness  for  the  monks.  On  one 
point,  however,  there  is  a  very  remarkable  difference  between 
them,  all  the  more  remarkable  in  that  St.  Benedict  was  well 
acquainted  with  and  admired  the  rule  of  St.  Basil. 

The  rule  of  St.  Basil  prescribes  a  period  of  searching  proba- 
tion, the  length  of  which  is  not  mentioned.  It  was  to  vary 
according  to  the  circumstances  of  each  particular  case,  and  the 
admission  of  the  postulant  was  to  be  discretionary.  On  profes- 
sion he  made,  as  we  understand  the  rule,  a  written  declaration 
of  vows.  This  seems  implied  in  certain  words  in  relation  to  a 
person   who   has  rescinded   his  profession :    "  He  should   be 

"  For  rule,  Gaelic  and  Eng.,  see  Reeves'  Acts  of  Colton,  Arcb.  109.  The 
entire  rule,  Gaelic  and  Eng.,  occupies  only  two  and  a  half  pages. 

A  Life  of  St.  Kieran,  quoted  by  Colgan,  recites  the  names  of  several  compilers 
of  rules  in  these  words  : — Numerantur  octo  inter  prsecipuos  Regularum  conditores, 
quibus  monasteria  prope  innumera  Regni  Hiberniae  regebantur  prima  enim  regula 
fuit  S.  Patricii ;  secunda,  S.  Brigidse ;  tertia,  S.  Brendani ;  quarta,  S.  Kierani ; 
quinta,  S,  Columbse ;  sexta,  S.  Comgalli ;  septima,  Molassii ;  octava,  S.  Adamnani 
LTriai.  Th.  471.) 


THE   MONKS.  S37 

regarded  as  an  offender  aj^ainst  God,  before  whom  and  with 
whom  he  has  deposited  the  profession  of  his  promises."^^ 
This,  we  make  no  doubt,  contained  vows  of  obedience,  stability, 
chastity,  and  individual  poverty. 

As  regards  children  St.  Basil  (anoKpime)  answers  that 
they  are  to  be  received  from  the  earliest  years,  if  they  are 
orphans,  at  the  pleasure  of  the  brotherhood ;  if  the  parents 
are  alive,  when  brought  by  the  parents  the  children  were  to  be 
received  in  the  presence  of  several  witnesses,  so  as  to  afford  no 
pretext  for  calumny.  They  were  not,  however,  then  to  be 
received  in  the  body  of  the  brotherhood,  or  reckoned  as  of  thera^ 
lest  from  their  falling  away  (a7rorux'«e)  disgrace  should  be 
brought  on  the  religious  life.  They  were  to  be  brought  up  in 
all  piety  as  the  common  children  of  the  brotherhood, 
whether  male  or  female,  with  separate  board  and  in  separate 
houses,  apart  from  the  community  except  at  prayer,  under  the 
control  of  an  aged  brother,  who  was  to  rule  with  mildness  and 
paternal  tenderness.  Their  education  was  to  be  attended  to, 
"  and  when  the  reasoning  faculty  is  developed  and  the  judgment, 
it  is  fitting  to  administer  the  vow  (6po\6yiav)  of  virginity  now 
secure  and  the  result  of  their  own  judgment  and  discretion, 
with  the  full  development  of  the  reason  in  the  presence  of  the 
prefects  of  the  church.  In  this  way  no  imputation  will  be  cast 
on  the  brotherhood  for  too  great  haste ;  and  if  after  making 
vow  to  God  any  should  be  eager  to  cast  it  off,  no  loop-hole  will 
be  left  to  him  for  lying." 

"And  any  one  who  does  not  wish  to  take  the  vow  of 
virginity  as  not  being  able  to  have  a  care  for  the  things  of  the 
Lord,  in  the  presence  of  the  same  witnesses  let  him  be  let  free. 
But  when  one  after  much  searching  of  heart  and  deliberation, 
which  he  ought  to  be  permitted  to  make  privately  for  the  space 
of  very  many  days,  lest  anything  should  appear  to  be  done  by  a 
snatch,  has  made  his  vow,  let  him  be  received  and  enrolled 
amongst  thy  brethren." 

The  rule  and  usage  of  St.  Benedict  provided  in  the  case  of 
adults  that  after  a  novitiate  of  a  year  or  so,  when  the  novice 
desired  to  be  fully  received  into  the  brotherhood,  he  should, 
amongst  other  things,  prepare  a  written  promise  (pctitionem) 

E(p  6v  Kai  etc  ov  -qv  vpoXoyinv  ra>v  (rvi'grjt:C)i>  Kmrtdero  coram  quo  etin 
quo  pactorura  confessionem  deposuit.  Interrogatio  14,  Migne  vol.  31,  p.  9j0 
Series  Qraeca, 


888  EARLr  IRISH  HISTORY. 

to  wit :  "  I  promise  to  God  and  His  saints,  stability  (i.e., 
perseverance),  conversion  of  life  and  obedience,"  and  should 
lay  this  promise  on  the  altar  before  the  clothing  of  his  head. 
In  the  case  of  an  infant  {i.e.  under  14)  the  father  if  alive, 
or  the  mother,  prepared  and  signed  the  petition,  to  wit :  "  I 
promise  for  my  son  before  God  and  His  saints,  stability,  conver- 
sion of  life  and  obedience."  Then  on  the  appointed  day  after 
the  gospel  of  the  mass  and  before  the  offertory,  he  placed  in 
the  right  hand  of  the  child  or  boy,  an  unconsecrated  host  in  a 
cloth  (oblatum  cum  nnappida),  and  a  cruet  of  wine  in  his  left 
band,  and  then  holding  the  boy  before  him  folded  his  hand  in 
the  cloth.13  Then  he  held  the  hand  of  the  boy  folded  in  the 
cloth  in  his  own  hand  and  also  the  written  promise,  by  which 
he  fixed  him  firmly  in  the  monastery.  Witnesses  were  present. 
Then  the  abbot  asked  :  "  What  seek  you,  brother  ?  "  The  father 
answered,  "I  wish  to  deliver  my  son  to  Almighty  God  to  serve 
Him  in  this  monastery,  for  so  in  the  law  the  Lord  commanded 
the  children  of  Israel  that  they  should  make  offering  of  their 
sons  to  God,  and  therefore  1  wish  in  like  manner  to  make 
offering  of  my  son."  Then  the  abbot  asked  the  witnesses  :  "  Do 
you  see,  brothers,  and  hear  what  he  says  ?  "  They  answered, 
"  We  see  and  hear."  Then  the  father  led  the  boy  to  the  place 
where  men  are  used  to  present  their  offerings,  and  the  priest 
took  the  host  and  the  wine  from  the  hand  of  the  boy  held  in 
the  hand  of  the  father,  and  the  abbot  took  delivery  of  the  boy 
and  the  promise,  and  then  handed  the  promise  back  to  the 
father,  who  placed  it  on  the  altar.  And,  if  possible,  it  waa 
desirable  that  the  abbot  phould  then  celebrate  the  Mass  and 
receive  the  host  and  wine  himself  when  consecrated.^4 

This  interesting  ceremony  bound  the  boy  for  life  as  much  as 
if  he  had  been  an  adult.  He  was  a  professed  monk  by  dedica. 
tion,  and  the  exercise  of  the  formidable  "  patria  protestas  "»S  of 
the  Roman  law.  There  was  no  such  practice  known  to  Irish 
monasticism,  which  appears,  so  far  as  we  can  judge,  to  have 
conformed  to  the  usage  of  St.  Basil. 

'^The  cloth  (jmlla  altaris)  was  probably  a  cloth  not  actually  a  corporal  conse- 
crated, but  a  cloth  fashioned  like  a  corporal.  It  was  possibly  used  for  the  tirst 
time  after  the  oblation. 

"  Promitto  ego  ille  (sic)  coram  Deo  et  Sanctis  ejus  pro  filio  meo  de  stabilitate 
sua  et  couversione  moruin  suorum  atque  obedientiam  habendam. 

Hildemarus  Monachus  O.  S.  B.  Tractatua  in  refjulam  S.  Benedicti. — Ed. 
Mittermueller  0.  S.  B.  1880,  p.  54S. 

"  See  Menardus  Cuncordia  Begxdarum. 


THE   MONKS.  3[]9 

Both  St.  Basil  and  St.  Benedict  inculcate  the  necessity  for 
manual  labour,  and  St.  Basil  takes  great  pains  to  point  oat 
that  prayer  is  not  to  be  made  a  pretext  for  avoiding  it.  St. 
Benedict  allots,  it  has  been  calculated,  an  average  of  seven 
hours  daily  for  it.  St.  Basil  mentions  many  trades,  such  as 
weaving,  carpentry,  etc.,  but  gives  his  preference  to  agriculture. 
It  is  noteworthy  that  there  is  no  vow  of  celibacy  (which  was 
included  in  the  vow  of  castitas)  expressly  mentioned  in 
either,  though  it  was,  no  doubt,  understood  to  be  impliedly 
contained  in  both.  In  af  tertime,  on  making  petition  to  receive 
the  lay  habit  in  the  Order  of  St.  Benedict,  the  conversiis 
promised  castitas  and  stabilitas.  But  the  old  form  was  still  re- 
tained for  the  monks  themselves,  limiting  the  vow  to  stability, 
conversion  of  life,  and  obedience.  We  do  not  find  any  lay 
brothers,  i.e.,  conversi,  associated  with  the  Gaelic  monks,  nor 
were  they  seemingly  contemplated  by  the  rule  of  St.  Bene- 
dict.^^  The  reason  of  the  omission  of  the  vow  of  castitas  and 
of  regulations  concerning  the  government  of  subordinate  or 
daughter-houses  in  the  rules  of  St.  Basil  and  St.  Benedict  may 
probably  be  looked  for  in  legal  difficulties.  A  body  of  laymen, 
united  under  articles  of  association  binding  them  to  celibacy, 
would  undoubtedly  be  contrary  to  the  policy  of  the  Roman 
State  after  the  passing  of  the  Julian  laws.  And  though  the 
severity  of  this  legislation  was  relaxed  by  Constantine,  such 
an  association  would,  we  fancy,  still  be  illegal ;  and  the 
Arian  emperors  who  succeeded  him,  and  found  their  stoutest 
and  most  formidable  adversaries  in  the  monks,  would  pro- 
bably have  fulminated  edicts  against  such  associations.  In 
like  manner  a  network  of  religious  houses  spread  through 
the  empire,  or  any  considerable  portion  of  it,  controlled  from 
a  central  authority — an  imperium  within  an  empire — would 
certainly  not  have  been  tolerated  by  the  Imperial  govern- 
ment, whichitself  made  regulations  concerning  the  monasteries. 
In  535  Justinian  enacted  that  when  a  vacancy  occurred  in  an 
abbey,  the  bishop  of  the  place  should  select  from  amongst  the 
monks  the  person  he  thought  fittest,  and  appoint  him  abbot. 
This  law  was  soon  repealed.     In  546  he  enacted  that  the  abbot 

"  We  find  the  1  vv  brothers'  vow  to  run  : — "  I  byhote  stedvestnesse  and  chaste 
lyf  tofore  God,  and  alle  Hies  kaloweu  and  that  ich  schel  ben  buhsam  {i.e.,  obedient) 
and  leven  withoute  propurtie  al  mi  lif  time." — Cons-uetudines  Mons-  S.  August, 
i'anttiar,  p.  266  and  278.  The  MS.  is  probably  of  the  date  of  the  13th  century. 
The  mijuk's  vow  ia  only  given  in  Latin  and  French. 


340  EARLY   IRISH   HISTORY. 

should  be  elected  by  all  the  monks  or  by  those  of  the  "  fairest 
repute  or  judgment"  (cdXXtovoc  idtoXiji/zIwc,  translated  melioris 
opinionis),  who  should  previously  make  oath  before  the  Holy 
Gospels  to  vote  for  the  best  man  without  favour  and  not  through 
friendship.^^  The  alternative  in  this  law  is  very  curious.  Who 
was  to  decide  if  the  minority  was  of  fairer  repute  or  sounder 
judgment  than  the  majority  ?  Was  it  the  emperor  ?  It  does 
not  mean,  in  its  plain  sense,  that  the  general  body  of  the 
monks  should  elect  a  committee  of  selection,  as  was  sometimes 
done  in  after  time.  The  rule  of  St.  Benedict  (516  c),  which  may 
have  been  modified  to  comply  with  this  law,  provides  that 
he  be  made  abbot  whom  all  the  brethren  unanimously  in  the 
fear  of  God,  or  even  a  part,  however  small,  of  the  brethren  of 
sounder  judgment  shall  elect.^*  We  have  seen  how  the  monks 
at  Glastonbury  obtained  permission  to  elect  their  abbot  under 
this  rule.  Previously,  we  presume,  the  Gaelic  use  prevailed, 
and  the  abbot  was  selected  by  the  abbot  of  the  parent  house. 

By  a  sjmodical  decree  made  at  the  Lateran  under  Gregory  the 
Great  in  601  it  was  provided  that  on  the  death  of  an  abbot 
no  stranger  should  be  elected  if  a  fitting  person  was  to  be 
found  amongst  the  brethren.  There  appears  to  be  something 
wanting  in  the  text,    which  runs : — "  Whom  if  by  their  own 

free  will  the  unanimous  society  of  the  brethren and  who 

shall  have  been  elected  without  fraud  or  bribery,  let  him  be 
'ordained  '  {i.e.,  as  abbot)."  It  is  probably  the  "  alternative  " 
clause  in  the  Imperial  Edict  that  is  wanting.^^  Monasticism  had 
enemies  at  a  very  early  period,  and  when  Arianism  was  powerful 
and  in  the  ascendant  this  hostility  led  to  persecution.  Valens  in 
373  issued  an  edict  directing  that  the  monks  should  be  dragged 
from  their  retreats  and  compelled  to  do  their  duties  as  citizens 
and  soldiers.2'^     St.   Chrysostom  (3i7-407)  gives  details  as  to 

"  Novell,  c.  9.  Ed.  Schoell,  p.  34  (A.D.  535).  Novell,  CXIII.  c.  34  Ed.  Schoell, 
p.  618  (A.D.  546). 

^*  In  abbatis  ordinatione  ilia  semper  consideratur  ratio  ut  hie  constituatur 
quem  sibi  omiiis  coiicors  congrega,tio  secundum  timorem  Dei,  sive  etiam  para 
quamvis  parva  congregationis  saniori  consilio  elegerit,  c.  64. 

^^  Defuncto  autem  abbate  cujusque  congregationis  non  eztraneus  eligatur  nisi 
de  eadem  congregatione  quem  si  propria  voluntate  concors  fratrum  societaa,  et 
qui  electus  fuerit  sine  dolo  nee  veualitate  aliqua  ordinatur. — Mansi,  X.  487. 

^  The  edict  runs  : — "  Since  manj',  through  lives  of  idleness,  shirk  their  public 
duties  and  betake  themselves  to  solitary  and  secret  places,  and  under  pretext  of 
religion  attach  themselves  to  communities  of  monks  ;  these,  and  such  like,  found 
in  Eg3'pt,  we  command,  by  formal  edict  from  our  Coui't  of  the  East,  to  drag 
from  their  hiding  places  and  recall  to  the  discharge  of  public  duties,  or,  according 
to  the  tenor  of  our  decree,  deprive  them  of  the  enjoyment  of  their  property,  which 


THE   MONKS.  841 

this  persecution,  and  denounces  the  men  "  who  make  war  "  on 
those  who  adopt  the  monastic  life.  He  was  only  eighteen 
years  younger  than  Basil  the  Great,  and  had  been  a  monk 
for  six  years  himself.  There  was  no  persecution  of  the  monks 
in  Erin. 

As  regards  food,  St.  Basil  prescribes  great  moderation,  the 
use  only  of  what  was  necessary  to  sustain  life.  "  The  common 
cheap  food  of  the  country  with  a  little  oil."  "  When  they  have 
finished  their  daily  work,"  said  St.  Chrysostom,  "  they  seat 
themselves  at  table,  and  truly  they  have  not  many  dishes. 
Some  only  eat  bread  and  salt,  others  take  oil  besides.  The 
weaker  add  herbs  and  vegetables.  Having  closed  their  meal 
with  hymns,  they  lay  themselves  down  on  straw."^^ 

The  Rule  of  St.  Benedict,  which  is  too  well  known  to  require 
a  detailed  examination  here,  was  a  little  more  liberal.  Though 
it  forbade  the  use  of  the  flesh  of  quadrupeds  it  allowed  the 
use  of  a  reasonable  quantity  of  wine,  and  seemingly  of  the 
flesh  of  poultry,  which  is  not,  at  any  rate,  expressly  prohibited. 
Milk  probably  would  cost  more  than  common  wine,  and  not  be 
at  all  times  procurable. 

St.  Cgesarius  of  Aries,  born  in  476,  made  his  studies  at 
Lerins — "  the  nursery  of  bishops."  From  it  went  bishops  to 
Armagh  and  Belgium,  to  Aries,  Lyons,  Vienna,  Avignon,  Venice, 
Troyes,and  other  places.  From  it  also  came  Vincentius,  Salvianup, 
Faustus,  and  Eucherius.  After  filling  the  office  of  cellarer  or 
steward  at  Lerins,  Cassarius  became  the  abbot  or  prior  of  a 
suburban  monastery  near  Aries,  which  he  reformed,  under  a 
code  of  rules  drawn  up  by  himself.  These,  no  doubt,  were  the 
*'  uses  "  of  Lerins ;  the  same  in  substance  as  those  which  were 
brought  to  Erin  in  the  time  of  our  apostle.  His  biographer 
and  soul-friend,  Cyprianus,  tells  us  he  never  changed  from  the 
rules  of  Lerins — Nunquam,  Lerinensiuin  fratrum  instituta 
reliquit.  The  rule  was  written  or  dictated  by  him  to  his 
nephew,  Tetradius,  as  well  as  a  rule  for  nuns,  believed  to  be 
the  oldest,^'^  during  his  abbacy,  which  he  held  for  three  years 

we  have  adjudged  should  be  claimed  by  those  who  were  liable  for  the  discharge 
of  public  duties."  As  the  monks  had  no  individual  property,  the  law  appears  to 
have  been  interpreted  so  as  to  capture  all,  and  they  were  forced  into  the  Imperial 
armies.— Cod.  Theodos.  LXII.  Tit.  I.  reg.  63. 

^^  Horn,  on  Ep.  I.  to  Timothy. 

^  Rule  12  for  Nuns. — Let  every  nun  learn  to  read,  and  at  all  times  have  free- 
dom for  reading  for  two  hours,  from  morning  till  the  '2ud  hour,  i.e.,  8  o'clock — 
Migne,  vol.  67,  p.  1,106. 


342  EARLY   IRISH   HISTORY. 

before  he  became  bishop  of  Aries  in  502.  Besides  poverty  and 
obedience,  the  rule  prescribes  stability,  i.e.,  perseverance  till 
death,  and  that  the  monk  shall  at  all  times  read  till  the  3rd 
hour,  i.e.,  9  o'clock,  and  then  do  the  other  work  he  was  ordered 
to  do.  Wednesdays  and  Fridays  were  to  be  fast  days  in  ordinary 
weeks,  and  the  other  times  of  fasting  the  same  as  in  Erin.  No 
fowl  or  flesh  was  to  be  eaten  except  by  the  sick.  The  rule 
contains  only  26  paragraphs. 

In  Erin  there  was  no  undue  austerity  as  regards  food,  as  we 
shall  now  proceed  to  show.  The  so-called  rule  of  St.  Columba 
says  nothing  on  the  subject,  but  we  have  authentic  informa- 
tion in  Adamnan. 

The  ascetical  writings  of  Columbanus  are  : — 

1.  The  Regula  Monastica,  which  is  found  in  MS3.  of  Bobbio  and 
St.  Gall. 

2.  Regula  Genobialis,  which  is  not  found  in  these  codices,  but  in  a 
codex  of  Augsburg  and  another  of  Ochenhausen. 

3.  The  Penitential  :  De  penetentiarum  mensura  taxanda  liber. 

4.  Sermons — Instructions,  short  homilies,  1 7  in  number,  admirably 
suited  for  reading  in  Chapter,  as  part  of  the  spiritual  discipline. 

The  authorship  of  the  Fenitentials  is  disputed.  They  deal 
largely  with  the  number  of  percussiones  to  be  administered, 
which  may  mean  anything  from  a  soft  slap  to  a  stroke  with  a 
cat-o'-nine-tails.  Some  such  discipline  was  necessary  for  boy 
monks,  according  to  the  ideas  of  the  time,  and  though  a 
number  is  mentioned,  this  was,  no  doubt,  reducible  at  the 
discretion  of  the  abbot  or  prior.  At  lona  the  penance  was,  we 
infer,  in  the  discretion  of  Columba.  Adamnan  makes  no  men- 
tion of  percussiones,  but  there  was  a  penitentiary  in  Tiree,  to 
which  grave  offenders  were  sentenced  for  seven  or  twelve  years.^* 

The  authorship  of  the  Regula  Monastica  and  the  Instruc- 
tiones  is  generally  admitted.  St.  Columbanus  warns  his 
children  not  to  attach  too  much  importance  to  excessive  fasting. 
"  Don't,"  he  says,  "  suppose  that  it  suffices  for  us  to  fatigue 
the  body  by  fasts  and  vigils  if  we  do  not  also  mortify  and  reform 
our  moral  being  "  (mores). 

The  so-called  rule  of  Columbanus  consists  of  nine  short 
chapters,    on    obedience,    silence,    eating,    drinking,    vanity, 

*  Seebass  has  collected  the  authorities  in  his  Columba  von  LtixeuUs  Klosterrega-. 
1888. 

Reeves'  Adamnan,  350. 


THE   MONgS.  313 

chastity,  discretion,   mortification ;    on  the   perfection   of   the 
monk ;  on  the  diversity  of  faults.     It  is  manifestly  a  fragment, 
and  its  attribution  to  Columbanus  is  disputed  by  some. 
As  regards  food  he  says  : — 

Let  the  food  be  cheap,  and  taken  in  the  evening  by  the  monk??, 
irho  are  to  avoid  eating  to  satiety  or  drinking  to  ebriety,  so  that  (tha 
meal)  may  sustain  and  not  hurt.  Vegetables,  beans,  and  such  like 
(plera  et  legumina),  flour  and  water  (white  sauce  ?),  and  small  fragments 
of  bread,  so  that  the  stomach  may  not  be  loaded  and  the  mind  stupefied. 
For  regard  must  be  had  to  what  is  wholesome  and  nutritious  (only)  by 
those  who  desire  the  rewards  that  are  eternal,  and  therefore  the  use  of 
food  must  be  regulated  like  the  performance  of  labour.  For  this  is 
true  discretion,  to  secure  the  capacity  for  spiritual  progress  by  absti- 
nence, which  keeps  the  flesh  in  subjection  (lii.  lean).  For  if  abstinence 
exceeds  moderation  it  is  a  fault  and  not  a  virtue.  Now,  virtue  consists 
of  many  things  that  are  good  and  keeps  them  active.  Therefore  (the 
monk)  must  fast  as  he  must  pray  and  labour  and  read  (i.e.,  learn)  every 
day.2* 

To  see  regulations  of  this  kind  in  their  true  perspective  it  is 
necessary  to  view  them  in  relation  to  contemporary  modes  of 
life  and  standards  of  comfort  and  not  in  comparison  with  the 
luxurious  asceticism  of  monks  who  wandered  far  away  from 
primitive  rule  and  usage.  The  stone  pillow  of  St.  Columba  to 
a  modern  ear  sounds  a  more  painful  austerity  than  a  plank 
bed ;  but  we  forget  that  at  that  period  and  down  to  Tudor 
times  the  pillow  in  ordinary  use  was  made  of  wood."^  And 
the  Englishman  who  eats  three  or  four  square  meals  a  day,  not 
including  his  afternoon  tea,  stands  aghast  at  the  folly  and 
superstition  of  men  who  ate  only  one  meal  at  sundown.  Yet 
this  was  the  custom  in  secular  life.  Captain  Cuellar,  of  the 
Spanish  Armada,  whose  ship  was  wrecked  in  Donegal  Bay, 
wrote  an  account  of  his  misadventures  in  Ireland  to  Kinsr 


o 


**  Regula  Monaatica,  c.  lii.  Cibus  sit  vilis  et  vespertinus  monachorum  satie- 
tatem  fugiens,  et  potus  ebrietatem  ;  ut  et  sustmeat  et  non  noceat,  olera  legumina, 
farina  aqua  mixta,  cum  parvo  panis  paximatione  ne  venter  oneretur  et  mens  suffo- 
setur.  Etenim  utilitati  et  usui  tantum  consulendum  est  seterna  desiderantibus 
praemia  et  ideo  temperandus  eat  ita  usus  sicut  temperandua  est  labor  ;  quia  haeo 
est  vera  disoretio  ut  possibilitas  spiri  talis  profectus  cum  abstinentia  carnem  raacer- 
ante  retentetur,  si  euim  modum  abstinentia  excesserit  vitium  non  virtus  erit ; 
virtus  enim  multa  sustinet  bona  et  continet  ergo  quotidie  jejunandum  est,  sicut 
quotidie  orandum  est ;  quotidie  laborandum,  quotidie  est  legeudum.  —  Migne,  vol. 
80,  p.  210.  The  paximentuin  appears  to  have  been  a  hard- baked  cake  or  biscuit, 
and  to  have  varied  in  size.  Cassian  says  in  one  place  that  two  hardly  made  a  pound 
weight.  It  was,  whatever  the  weight,  exclusive  of  fruit  and  vegetables,  and  there 
was  plenty  of  milk.  See  Fleming's  note.  There  is  a  striking  similarity  between 
our  text  and  the  passages  in  Cassian's  Coll.  2,  c.  19  and  c.  22. — Migne,  vol.  80,  p.  210. 

^  Adamnan  says  his  bed  was  a  hard  stone.  Tha  Vita  Seeanda  says  a  skin, 
popsibly  a  sheep's  skin,  was  over  it.  This  was  exceptional.  Each  monk  had  a 
separate  bed,  with  a  mattrass,  probably  of  straw,  and  a  pillow. 


344  EARLY    IRISH   HISTORY. 

Philip  TI,  of  Spain,  dated  October  4th,   1589,  from   which  wc 
take  the  following  extract : — 

They  (i.e.,  the  Irish)  live  in  huts  made  (?  covej  ed)  with  straw.  The  men 
have  big  bodies,  their  features  and  limbs  are  well  made,  and  they  are  as 
agile  as  deer.  They  eat  but  one  meal  a  day,  and  that  at  night,  and 
their  ordinary  food  is  oaten  bread  and  butter.  They  drink  sour  milk, 
as  they  have  no  other  beverage,  but  no  water,  although  it  is  the  best 
in  the  world.  On  holidays  they  eat  meat  half  cooked,  without  bread 
or  salt.  They  dress  in  tight  breeches  and  goat-skin  jackets  cut  short, 
but  very  big,  and  over  all  a  blanket,  and  wear  their  hair  down  to  the 
eyes.  They  are  good  walkers  and  have  great  endurance.  They  sleep 
upon  the  ground  on  rushes  freshly  cut  and  full  of  water,  or  else  frozen 
stiff.  Most  of  the  women  are  very  pretty,  but  badly  dressed.  They  are 
hard  workers  and  good  housewives,  after  their  fashion.  These  savages 
liked  us  very  much.     Their  domain  extends  forty  leagues  each  way.^^ 

In  the  Life  of  Columbanus,  by  Jonas,  we  read  of  the  saint 
and  his  monks  reaping  a  field  of  wheat.  Beer  made  from 
barley,  fish,  and  birds  were  used.  "  He  commenced  to 
thresh  out  the  corn,  and  the  monks  were  seated  and  the  tables 
were  prepared,  and  he  ordered  that  they  might  be  strengthened 
bj  a  joyful  banquet." 

At  lona  the  days  of  the  year  were  divided  into  Sundays 
and  saints'  days  (dies  solemnes)  and  ordinary  days.  On  ordinary 
days  every  Wednesday  and  Friday,  except  during  the  interval 
between  Easter  and  Whitsuntide,  was  a  fast  day.  The  fast 
was  relaxed,  except  on  great  fast  days,  in  the  exercise  of 
hospitality  when  a  stranger  arrived.  On  ordinary  fast  days 
one  meal  was  taken  consisting  of  a  moderate  share  of  bread,  a 
hen  egg,  and  milk  mixed  with  water.  During  Lent  and 
Advent  all  ordinary  days  were  fast  days.^'^  On  ordinary  days, 
which  were  not  fast  days,  the  food  was  simple  bread,  sometimes 
made  of  barley,  milk,  fish,  eggs,  and  probably  seal's  flesh,  and 
on  Sundays  and  saints'  days  and  on  the  arrival  of  guests  there 
was  an  improvement  of  diet,  which  consisted  in  an  addition  to 
the  principal  meal,  on  which  occasion  it  is  probable  that 
mutton,  and  even  beef,  were  served  up.  Ratramnus  of  Corbie 
states  it  was  the  general  practice  of  the  Scots  to  have  one  meal 
only  at  nones  (three  o'clock),  except  on  Sundays  and  feast  days. 

Among  the  Gael  there  was  no  blood-letting  or  scourging 
for  the  mortification  of  the  body.  Hard  work  and  plain  living, 
accompanied,  we  are  proud  to  say,  in  very  many  cases,  witk 
high  thinking,  enabled  them  to  dispense  with  these  heroic 
precautions. 

^  This  was  the  territory  of  the  Mac  Clancys  ("  Dartres  Mic  Clancy),  coexten- 
eive  with  the  present  barony  of  Ross  Clogher.  The  Castle  of  Ross  Clogher,  on 
the  southern  shore  of  L.  Melvin,  was  the  residence  of  the  chieftain . — Letter  of 
Captain  Cuellar,  H.  Sedgwick,  p.  69  (condensed) ;  and  Allingham,  H.,  Cuellar's 
Adventures,  p.  15. 

■■"  Reevea'  Adamnan,  341-355. 


C     345     3 


CHAPTER  XXIV. 

THE   TEACHING   OF   THE    NATIONS. 

Pro  Chrisio  peregrinari  volms  eiiavi'javit 
Deciding  to  go  abroad  for  Christ,  he  sailed  away. 

IT  was  not  the  pinch  of  famine  nor  the  fear  of  poison,  the 
pitch  cap  or  the  triangle,  still  less  the  prickings  of  an 
uneasy  conscience,  that  led  the  Gaelic  monks  to  leave  a 
land  which  they  loved.  It  was  in  obedience  to  the  precepts 
of  the  Gospel,  and  following  the  example  of  our  apostle,  that 
they  went  forth  to  teach  the  heathen.  Many  a  home-sick 
heart  they  carried  with  them. 

Wanderers  ever,  without  pause  or  rest, 

They  longed  for  their  country  and  cradle  land.^ 

"OeoiiAiT)  f10|l  gxMI  fjit  -^AW  pof 
tniAn*M'0  A  "O-CltA  Y  •^  tl-'DUCCOf. 

No  murmur  of  regret,  however,  ever  passed  the  lips  of  these 
brave  men.  "  My  country,"  said  Mochonna,  one  of  Columba's 
disciples,  "  is  where  I  can  gather  the  largest  harvest  for  Christ." 
There  was  no  desire  to  turn  back ;  no  craven  fear  of  martyrdom. 
They  were  ever  ready  to  stand  and  fall  in  the  fighting  line, 
as  became  the  sons  of  the  soldier. 

The  first  and,  perhaps,  the  greatest  of  these  apostles  was 
Columba,  the  Gaelic  patron  of  the  Gael.  But  before  we  follow 
him  to  the  scene  of  his  labours,  we  must  say  a  word  as  to  the 
educational  preparation  at  home  that  ensured  the  success 
under  Providence  of  the  efforts  of  the  missionaries  abroad. 

At  the  reception  of  the  faith  such  education  as  existed  in 
Erin  may  be  roughly  described  as  technical,  such  as  we  have 
seen  outlined  in  the  Brehon  Law  Tracts.  There  was  no 
literary  training.  There  was,  it  is  true,  an  alphabet  of  a 
primitive  kind.      The  letters  called  Oghams,  24  in  number, 

*  The  Tristia  in  Gaelic,  attiibuted  to  Columba,  are  not  genuine. 


346  EARLY   IRISH  HISTORY. 

consisted  of  groups  of  parallel  lines  or  scores,  to  the  right,  left, 
or  across  a  vertical  stem-line.  The  groups  of  parallel  lines  or 
scores  vary  in  number,  from  one  to  five,  and  are  placed  horizon- 
tally or  obliquely  as  regards  the  vertical  stem-line,  which  is 
usually  the  edge  of  an  upright  stone.  The  vowels,  however, 
are  sometimes  represc^nted  by  short  lines  or  points.  The  lines 
or  scores,  according  to  the  Gaelic  practice,  commenced  below, 
and  the  arris  is  to  be  read  upwards.  On  the  second  edge  the 
arris  is  to  be  read  downwards  generally,  but  sometimes 
upwards,  like  the  first  arris.  Turning  the  page,  so  as  to 
represent  an  upright  pillar,  the  groups  with  their  values 
are: — 


h  d  t    c     qu 

bl  £     s     n 


Opinions  vary  as  to  the  origin  of  this  alphabet.  Bishop 
Graves  and  Professor  Rhys  are  in  favour  of  the  Latin  alphabet. 
Isaac  Taylor,  on  the  other  hand,  a  weighty  authority,  and  for 
weighty  reasons,  connects  it  with  the  Scandinavian  runes.  He 
says,  "  That  the  Oghams  were  derived  from  the  runes  is  in- 
dicated by  the  fact  that  they  are  found  exclusively  in  regions 
where  Scandinavian  settlements  were  established,  and  also  by 
the  fact  that  the  names  of  the  Oghams  agree  curiously  with 
the  names  of  the  runes  of  corresponding  value. '  The  primi- 
tive forms  of  the  Ogham  symbols  would  seem  to  have  been 
directly  suggested  by  the  "  tree  runes,"  which  are  occasionally 
found  side  by  side  with  the  ordinary  runes.  In  the  Booh  of 
Ballymote  they  are  referred  to  the  Tuatha  De  Danaan,  who 
represent,  in  all  probability,  an  earlier  Scandinavian  immigra- 
tion." 

There  have  been  found  in  Ireland  155  Ogham  inscriptions, 
of  which  148  are  in  Cork,  Kerry,  Waterford,  or  Kilkenny. 
There  are  twenty  Welsh  Ogham  inscriptions  ;  seventeen  being 
in  South  Wales,  two  in  Devon,  one  in  Cornwall,  and  some  in 

^  Older  values  are  proposed  for  some  of  these  symbols  by  Rhys. 
'  Greeks  and  Gothf,  180.     The  Alphabet  (1899),  II.  225. 


THE   TEACHING  OF  THE  NATIONS.  347 

the  Isle  of  Man  and  Scotland.  It  may  be  safely  affirmed  that 
where  the  Northmen  never  came,  Ogham  inscriptions  are  never 
found.*  These  inscriptions  are  all  of  an  obituary  or  mortuary 
character,  connected  probably  with  religious  motives.  No 
list  of  names  of  kings  or  chieftains,  or  fact  of  historical  value, 
is  found  in  them.  Assuming  then,  and  in  our  humble  judg- 
ment the  assumption  is  warranted,  that  Ogham  writing  was 
used  long  before  the  reception  of  the  Faith  ;  it  was  not  better 
suited  for  literary  uses  than  the  cuneiform  syllabary,  and  there 
were  no  clay  tablets  to  facilitate  its  employment. 

Literary  culture,  therefore,  had  its  beginning  with  the 
coming  of  our  apostle,  who  is  represented  in  our  texts  as  read- 
ing and  writing  for  his  converts  "  alphabets  and  rudiments  of 
the  Faith."  It  is  interesting  to  know  that,  he  brought  his 
script,  or  mode  of  writing,  from  Southern  Gaul,  and  in  the 
sixth  century  Ireland  became  the  chief  school  of  Western 
caligraphy,  and  the  Irish  Uncial  blazed  forth  in  full  splendour 
as  the  most  magnificent  of  all  mediaeval  scripts.  Some  time 
in  the  fifth  century  a  fully  formed  book-hand  must  have  been 
introduced  from  Gaul  by  the  saint.  The  cursive  writing  of 
Southern  Gaul  supplies  unmistakable  prototypes  for  the  ten 
Irish  test  forms  which  could  not  be  obtained  by  any  process  of 
palseographical  evolution  from  the  contemporary  Roman 
uncials.  The  Roman  uncials  are  rounded  capitals :  the  Irish 
uncials  are  uncialized  cursives.^  Since  the  publication  of 
Isaac  Taylor's  work  on  the  alphabet  (1899)  the  second  part  of 
Macalister's  Irish  Epigraphy  has  appeared  (1902).  This 
contains  an  account  of  Ogham  tablets  found  at  Bure  in  Saxony, 
about  eleven  miles  south  of  Magdeburg.  About  1,200  stones 
were  found,  pieces  of  limestone,  big  and  very  little,  bearing 
scores  and  figures  made  with  a  very  sharp  tool.  The  figures 
inscribed  represent  hammers,  axes,  a  shield,  two  swords  crossed, 
a  tent,  a  javelin,  a  spear-head,  a  sling,  a  bow,  and  a  bird  and 
an  arrow.  Under  these  figures  are  written  Ogham  characters, 
that  is,  parallel  lines  and  a  stem  line.  Mr.  Macalister,  giving 
the  Gaelic  values  to  the  scripts  in  six  cases,  could  not  discover 
the  meaning  of  the  words,  or  even  the  language.  Some  of  the 
other  inscriptions  looked  like  Runic  letters,  but  tested  by  the 
known  forms  of  the  Runic  alphabet  were  unintelligible.      He 

*  Taylor,  Greeks  and  Goths  (1879),  III. 

^  This  is  condensctJ  from  Taylor's  Alphabet  II.,6.S-178, 


348  EARLY   IRISH   HISTORY. 

observed  that  there  are  several  details  on  these  tablets  which 
suggest  that  when  fuller  knowledge  is  brought  to  us  by  future 
discoveries  the  much-derided  author  of  the  tract  on  Osrhams  in 
the  Booh  of  Ballyniote  may  yet  be  acquitted  of  the  charge  of 
mere  childish  futility.  He  thinks  that  some  of  the  scribings 
may  be  Oghamic  shorthand,  and  that  thus  works  of  any  length 
would  not  require  the  cartload  of  timber  postulated  by  Bishop 
Graves  for  a  poem  of  moderate  length  in  Oghams.  We  think 
this  very  improbable,  but  the  discovery  seems  to  take  us  back 
towards  the  Oghamic-like  scribings  of  the  Dolmen  period 
already  referred  to.  Mr.  Macalister  thinks  they  were  "  pro- 
bably magical."  ^ 

After  St.  Patrick  had  founded  his  habitations  (congabala) 
in  the  territories  conquered  for  the  Faith,  one  of  the  most 
urgent  needs  of  the  Church  was  to  make  provision  for  the 
education  of  the  clergy.  And  viq  may  be  sure  that  he  brought 
with  him  alumni  of  Lerins  and  Auxerre  well  qualified  to 
undertake  the  task  and  become  the  teachers,  not  only  of  the 
clergy,  but  also  of  the  laity.  The  study  of  Latin,  and  what  is 
more  remarkable,  of  Greek  and  even  Hebrew,  flourished  side  by 
side  with  the  study  of  theology,  and  many  of  the  ministers  of 
religion  were  at  once  sound  theologians  and  accomplished 
scholars.  "  The  classic  tradition,"  says  Mr.  Darmesteter,  "  lo 
all  appearance  dead  in  Europe,  burst  out  into  full  bloom  in  the 
Isle  of  the  Saints,  and  the  Renaissance  began  in  Ireland  seven 
hundred  years  before  it  was  known  in  Italy.  During  three 
centuries  Ireland  was  the  asylum  of  the  Higher  Learning, 
which  took  sanctuary  from  the  uncultured  States  of  Europe. 
At  one  time  Armagh,  the  religious  capital  of  Christian  Ireland, 
was  the  metropolis  of  civilization."  ^  The  Higher  Learning 
took  sanctuary  in  the  monasteries;  the  lamp  of  knowledge 
burned  before  the  altar. 

"  Deciding  to  go  abroad  for  Christ  he  sailed  away."^  So 
wrote  Adamnan,  who  also  tells  us  that  St.  Brendan  stated  at 
the  Synod  of  Tailltin   that   he  "  saw   that  St.   Columba  was 

«  Macalister,  Irish  Epigraphy,  Part  II.  (1902),  138. 

7  Hyde,  218. 

"Hie  anno  secundo  post Culedrebinse  bellum aetatis  vero  suaeXLIII.  de  Scotia 
in  Britanniam,  pro  Christo,  peregrinari  volens  enavigavit,  Qui  a  puero 
Christiano  deditus  tirocinio  et  sapientiae  studiis  integritatem  corporis  et 
animae  puritatem,  Deo  Donante  custodiens  quamvis  in  terra  positus  ccelestibua 
eeraptum  moribus  ost-eudebat.     Adarauau,  Praefatio. 


THE  TEACHING  OF   THE    NATIONS.  349 

T 

foreordained  by  God  to  be  a  leader  of  peoples  to  Hfe."^ 
Columbia  was  then  42  years  of  age,  563.  He  was  born  in  521. 
and  died  in  597.  It  is  quite  a  mistake  to  represent  this  mis- 
sion as  a  penance  and  an  exile.  It  was  neither.  lona  war 
regarded  by  Ptolemy  and  Bede  as  part  of  Erin. 

In  going  to  lona  he  was  going  to  his  own  people.  Erca,  the 
granddaughter  of  Loarn  Mor,  the  renowned  chieftain  of  Argyl, 
was  his  grandmother.^^  Since  the  settlement  in  Alba  inter- 
mittent war  with  varying  fortunes  raged  between  the  Gael 
there  and  the  Picts.  Three  years  before,  the  Gael  had  sustained 
a  severe  defeat,  and  Domhangart,  their  chieftain,  who  was  a  first 
cousin  to  Erca,  was  slain.  To  end  this  strife  Columba  resolved 
to  convert  to  Christianity  the  Picts,  who  were  still  heathen, 
hoping  that  in  the  unity  of  the  Faith  they  would  be  drawn 
together  in  the  bonds  of  peace.  "  The  conversion  of  this  strong 
race,"  writes  the  Yery  Rev.  Dr.  Macgregor,  "  was  an  enterprise 
worthy  of  a  great  missionary.  If  successful  it  would  be  a  patriotic 
as  well  as  a  Christian  act ;  for  binding  them  to  his  kinsmen  by  a 
common  faith,  he  would  help  to  prevent  the  recurrence  of  war 
between  them.'' 

His  efforts  were  successful  under  difficulties  which  the 
following  extract  will  enable  our  readers  to  understand  : — 

Even  imagination  can  help  us  but  a  little  way  in  picturing  to  our- 
selves the  Scotland  of  the  time,  and  those  lonely  journeys  on  foot  of 
the  master  and  his  disciples  across  its  rugged  mountains  and  throuijh 
its  dense  forests  and  among  its  Weak  bogs  and  morasses,  or  those  still 
more  dangerous  voyages  when  in  frail  skiffs  they  boldly  faced  the  seas 
that  raged  round  the  Hebrides  and  the  Orkneys.  From  more  sources 
than  one  we  can  picture  to  ourselves  what  Columba  and  his  disciples 
were  like.  We  can  see  them  as  they  journey  on  foot  from  one  end  of 
Scotland  to  the  other,  as  poor  and  as  barely  provided  for  as  were 
Christ's  Apostles,  with  neither  silver  nor  gold  nor  brass  in  their 
purses,  and  over  a  much  wilder  country,  and  among  wilder  people.  I 
think  of  these  pure  Celts  (recte  Gael)  as  they  were,  as  probably  in 
physical  appearance  not  unlike  the  Scottish  Highlanders  of  the  present 
day — a  noble  race  among  whom  you  will  find,  and  not  uncommon,  as 
fine  a  type  of  manly  beauby  as  the  earth  can  show,  mon  of  commanding 
presence,  as  we  certainly  know  Columba  and  Columbxnus  were.  They 
come  before  us  as  men  with  few  wants,  living  on  humblest  fare,  leading  an 

^  Hunc  itaque  spernare  non  audeo  quem  popiilorum  ducera  ad  vitam  a  Doo 
pro  ordinatum  video.  St.  Brendan  of  Birr  died  in  573,  and  St.  Columba  instituted 
a  festival  at  lona  in  commemoration.     Adaranan,  III.  4. 

^^  Fergus,  the  son  of  Conal  Gulban,  married  Erca,  the  daughter  of  Loarn  Mor 
to  whom  she  bore  Feidlimidh,  the  father  of  Columba,  whose  mother  was  Eithne, 
loth  in  descent  from  Cathair  Mor,  Ard  Righ,  120  A.D. 


350  EABLY   IRISH   HISTORY. 

outdoor  life,  men  of  powerful  physique,  capable  of  great  endurance,  inured 
to  hardship  and  fatigue  from  their  earliest  days.  We  see  them  as  they 
march  forth  from  lona  in  little  bands,  clad  in  a  simple  white  tunic,  over 
which  was  the  usual  monkish  dress  of  undyed  wool,  coarse,  but  strong 
and  good,  comfortable  and  most  picturesque,  bound  round  the  waist 
with  a  strong  cord,  covering  them  from  head  to  foot,  and  serving  them 
for  clothes  by  day  and  blanket  by  night.  All  their  worldly  goods  they 
carry  with  them  on  their  back  in  a  wallet ;  over  their  shoulder  a 
leathern  water  bottle;  in  their  hand  a  staff.  Thus  they  trudge 
sturdily  along.  It  was  men  like  that,  and  in  a  way  like  that,  who  con- 
verted Scotland  and  England  and  Northern  Europe  to  God.^^ 

Reeves  gives  a  list, by  no  means  exhaustive,  of  21  of  Columba's 
foundations  among  the  Picts,  and  32  among  the  Scots  of  Alba. 

"  The  primitive  history  of  the  Church  of  Scotland,"  he  says,  "  is 
essentially  Irish.  Situate  in  the  West,  Columba's  great  monastery  of 
Hy  exercised  a  religious  influence  which  was  felt  in  every  quarter  of 
Scotland.  In  the  extreme  North,  the  Orkneys  were  rendered  safe  to 
the  devout  pilgrim  by  St.  Columba ;  in  the  far  South,  Melrose  attained 
its  greatest  celebrity  under  Eata,  one  of  St.  Aidan's  twelve  disciples ; 
and  in  the  Eastern  extremity  of  Pictland,  Drostan,  son  of  Cosgrog, 
accompanied  the  indefatigable  Columba,  when  he  founded  the  churches 
of  Aberdour  and  Aberlour.  Even  the  nunnery  of  Colubi  or  Coldingham 
is  introduced  to  notice  by  the  father  of  English  history,  to  illustrate 
his  narrative  of  one  Adamnan,  a  Scot  of  Ireland.  There  were,  it  is 
true,  two  ecclesiastical  establishments  in  the  South-west  which  were  not 
of  Columban  origin.  Rosnat,  the  Whithorn  of  the  Saxon,  and  the 
Candida  Casa  of  Latin  history,  was  founded  by  Ninian  prior  to  St. 
Columba's  date,  while  the  Episcopal  See  of  Glasgow  owes  its  origin  to 
St.  Kentigern  (or  Munghu),  a  Strathcljde  Briton."  ^^ 

It  is  outside  the  scope  of  this  work  to  trace  the  history  of 

the  Columban  missionaries  in  their  perilous  warfare  for  Christ, 

from  Iceland   to  Tarentum,  from  Skelig  Michael  to  Vienna. 

Their  labours  in  Germany  are  summarised  by  a  German  priest 

with  becoming   gratitude,   in   his   History   of  the   Diocese  of 

Cologne : — 

Mabillon  remarks  that  the  Scoti  conferred  four  benefits  on  the  German 
people:  (1)  the  Faith;  (2)  the  erection  of  bishoprics;  (3)  the  intro- 
duction of  arts  and  letters  ;  (4)  the  knowledge  of  agriculture.  Those 
who  wish  to  realise  the  full  extent  to  which  we  are  indebted  to  the 
Scoti  for  these  blessings  have  only  to  read  the  work  of  the  learned 
Spittler,^3  which  is  worthy  of  the  closest  attention. 

These  missionaries  (i.e.,  the  Irish,)  feared  neither  the  dangers  of  the 
sea  nor  of  the  land.  Armed  with  the  cross,  they  preached  Christ 
crucified  to  kings  and  peoples.     They  gave  their  lives  for  the  salvation 

11  The  Very  Rev.  Dr.  MaoGregor :  Commemoration  Sermon  at  lona  June  9th 
1897. 

^'^  Reeves,  Guldees,  i6. 

1^  Grundriss  der  Oeschichte  der  Christlichen  Kirche. 


THE  TEACHING  OF  THE  NATIONS.  351 

Faith,  but  all  the  civilising  institutions  of  the  Christian  religion — of  our 
forefathers.  .  .  .  They  not  only  brought  the  treanre  of  the  schools, 
but  hospitals,  asjlums,  shelters  for  the  poor,  and  all  similar  retreats. 
In  the  year  844,  several  of  these  institutions  having  been  allowed  to 
fall  into  disrepair,  whether  through  the  negligence  of  bishops  or  the 
vicissitudes  of  the  times,  a  decree  was  passed  at  the  Council  of  Meaux. 
held  in  that  year,  ordering  hospitals  and  such  foundations  to  be 
restored  '  such  as  they  had  been  instituted  by  the  Scots  of  old.'  Every 
province  of  Germany  proclaims  this  race  as  its  benefactor.  Austria 
celebrates  St.  Coleman,  St.  Virgilius,  St.  Modestus,  and  others.  To  whom 
but  to  the  Scots  was  due  the  famous  "  Schottenkloster"  of  Vienna'? 
Salsburg  Ratisbon,  and  all  Bavaria,  honour  St.  Virgilius  as  their  apostle. 
Similar,  honour  is  paid  in  different  regions  to  SS.  Alto,  Marianus,  and 
Macarius.  To  whom  but  to  these  same  monks  was  due  the  famous  monas- 
tery of  St.  James  at  Ratisbon  ?  Burgundy,  Alsace,  Helvetia.  Suevia, 
with  one  voice  proclaim  the  glory  of  Columbanus,  Gall,  Fridolin, 
Arbogast,  Florentius,  and  Trudpert,  who  first  preached  the  true  religion 
amongst  them.  Who  were  the  founders  of  the  monasteries  of  St. 
Thomas  at  Strasburg  and  of  St.  Nicholas  at  Memmingen  but  these  same 
Scots  ?  Franconia  and  the  Buchonian  forest  honour  as  their  apostles 
St.  Killian  and  St.  Firmin.  And  the  Scottish  monasteries  of  St. 
Aegidius  and  St.  James,  which  in  old  times  flourished  at  Nuremberg 
and  Wurzburg,  to  whom  are  they  to  be  ascribed  but  to  the  holy  monks  of 
ancient  Scotia  ?  The  land  between  the  Rhine  and  the  Moselle  rejoiced  in 
the  labours  of  Wendelin  and  Disibod.  The  old  and  famous  monastery 
of  St.  James  at  Mainz  was  founded,  according  to  the  best  authorities, 
by  these  same  Scots.  The  Saxons  and  the  tribes  of  Northern  Germany 
are  indebted  to  them  to  an  extent  which  may  be  judged  by  the  fact 
that  the  first  ten  bishops  who  occupied  the  See  of  Verdun  belonged  to 
that  race.^'* 

There  is,  however,  one  mission  within  the  British  Isles  to 
which,  for  many  reasons,  we  must  give  special  and  detailed 
attention  after  we  have  referred  briefly  to  a  peculiarity  in  the 
constitution  of  the  Scotch  mission,  which  is  mentioned  by 
Bede.  "  The  island,"  he  wrote,  "  is  wont  to  have  always 
an  abbot  who  is  a  priest,  for  its  ruler,  to  whose  jurisdiction 
both  all  the  2:>rovincia  and  the  bishops  also  themselves,  after 
an  unusual  order,  are  bound  to  be  subject,  according  to  the 
example  of  him  who  was  their  first  teacher  (i.e.,  Columba), 
who  was  not  a  bishop  but  a  priest  and  monk."  ^^  The  episcopal 
office  is  regarded  by  good  authorities  as  twofold,  one  branch 
exercising   spiritual   authority,  potestas   ordinis;    the   other 

'*  Antiquitates  Monasterii  Sancti  Mar/mi  Majoris  Coloniensis,  I.  H.  Ressel, 
presbyter,  Coloniensis,  1863,  Hogan,  J.  F.,  Irish  Monasteries  in  Germany,  Ir.  Ecd. 
Rec,  1898,533.  We  have  condensed  the  above  from  the  Rev.  Fr.  Hogau.  His  article 
on  Cologne  is  one  ot  a  very  interesting  series  on  the  Irish  Monasteries  in  Gerraany, 
which  we  hope  he  will  find  leisure  to  recast  and  publish  in  a  connected  history. 

»  H.  E.  III.  5. 


3.52  EARLY    IRISH   HISTORY. 

temporal  authority,  i^otestas  jurisdiction  is.  In  Erin,  as  we 
have  seen,  where,  as  elsewhere,  and  nowhere  more  than  in 
Italy,  the  temporalities  of  the  Church  were  invaded  by  lay 
intruderSjii^  the  intruders  some  times  called  themselves  bishops, 
not  claiming,  however,  the  potestas  ordinis,  but  only  the 
potestas  jurisdictionis.  St.  Columba,  as  a  priest,  had  no 
episcopal  potestas  ordinis^  but  exercised  the  potestas  juris, 
dictionis  in  the  general  management  and  control  of  the 
temporalities  of  the  mission.  In  addition,  when  the  bishop, 
as  was  always  the  case  with  Columba,  was  also  a  monk,  he 
owed  the  saint  monastic  obedience  as  abbot.  The  episcopal 
and  monastic  systems  there  and  in  Erin  were  in  reality  not 
two  systems  but  parts  of  ono  and  the  same  system.  Thus,  as 
regards  Lindisfarne,  Bede  tells  us  that 

Aidan,  who  was  the  first  bishop,  was  a  monk,  and  led  a  monastic 
life  along  with  his  people.  Hence,  after  him  all  the  bishops  of  that 
place  until  this  day  exercise  the  episcopal  office  in  such  sort  that  while 
the  abbot,  who  is  chosen  by  the  bishop  with  the  consent  of  the  brethren, 
governs  the  monastery,  all  the  priests,  deacons,  chanters,  readers,  and 
other  ecclesiastical  Orders,  observe  in  all  things  the  monastic  rule 
along  with  the  bishop  himself^''. 

There  was  no  rivalry,  no  conflict,  no  recriminations  between 
abbot  and  bishop.  There  were  no  "  perturbations  and  pro- 
mulgations," and  no  privilegia  exempting  monasteries  from 
episcopal  visitation  and  jurisdiction.  If  the  bishop  was  a 
provincial  king  like  Cormac,  or  a  rigdamna  like  the  fiery 
abbot  of  Inis  Scattery,  he  had  to  fight  the  battles  of  his  tribe. 
So  the  German  bishops,  as  temporal  princes  under  the  feudal 
system,  donned  their  coats  of  mail  and  mounted  their  war- 
horses  and  accompanied  the  Emperor  on  his  march  to  Rome 
And  if  the  muintir  of  one  abbey,  which  comprised  not  only 
the  monks  but  the  folk  on  the  termon  lands,  with  their 
friends  and  supporters,  fought  against  the  viuintir  of  another 
abbey,  the  abbot  of  Farfa  rode  with  the  Emperor,  while  the 
abbot  of  Monte  Casino  stood  firm  for  the  Pope.  With  the 
exception  of  these  rare  quarrels,  which  were  local  and  probably 
arose  out  of  a  dispute  about  a  right  of  way  or  a  turf-bank,  the 
peace  of  the  Church  was  a  reality  in  Erin  so  far  as  ecclesiastics 
were  concerned. 

^®  In  Erin,  as  we  have  seen,  these  intruding  robbers  are  called  aichidoci — 
arrant  grabbers  in  the  Tirechan  text,  Trip.  Lij'e,  312. 

"  Bede,  Vita  Cuthb.,  c.  U. 


THE  TEACHING  OF   THE   NATIONS.  353 

St.  Augustine  landed  in  Kent  some  three  or  four  weeks 
before  the  death  of  St.  Columba  (July  9th,  597).  Kent  was 
the  county  of  the  Jutes,  and  Ethelbert,  their  king  or  chieftain, 
was  Bretwalda,  a  sort  of  ard-righ,  exercising  some  authority 
or  influence  as  overlord  in  the  East  of  England,  as  far  north 
as  the  Humber.  He  had  married,  many  years  before,  Bertha, 
the  daughter  of  Charibert,  King  of  Paris,  and  the  great  grand- 
daughter of  Clotilde,  the  wife  of  Clovis.  She  was  a  Christian, 
and  brought  with  her  to  Canterbury,  as  her  soul-friend.  Bishop 
Luidhard.  We  cannot  doubt  that  both  were  anxious  for  the 
conversion  of  the  heathen,  and  by  example  at  least,  if  not  by 
an  active  propaganda,  exercised  a  salutary  influence.  They 
received,  however,  no  assistance  from  the  Frankish  bishops. 
Of  this  the  Pope  complains  :  "  We  are  informed,"  he  wrote, 
'*  that  they  longingly  wish  to  be  converted,  but  the  bishops 
and  priests  of  the  neighbouring  region  (France)  neglect  them." 

Whatever  preparation  may  have  been  made,  the  honour  of 
converting  the  first  tribe  of  the  English  nation — the  Jutes — 
belongs  to  St.  Augustine.  Ethelbert's  nephew,  the  King  of 
Essex,  which  included  London,  and  Essex,  too,  was  for  the 
time  converted,  and  Millitus  was  placed  in  the  See  of  London, 
and  Justus  at  Rochester.  St.  Augustine  remained  at  Canter- 
bury until  his  death  (604  or  605). 

On  Ethelbert's  death  (616)  Essex  relapsed  into  heathenism, 
and  his  son  and  successor  for  a  time  returned  to  idol  worship, 
because  he  would  not  be  allowed  to  marry  his  stepmother. 
The  only  solid  and  permanent  result  of  St.  Augustine's  work 
was  the  conversion  of  Kent.  Millitus  and  Justus  fled  to  Gaul, 
but  Laurentius,  the  successor  of  Augustine,  was  providentially 
prevented  from  joining  them. 

Kent,  an  insignificant  portion  of  England,  so  far  as 
regarded  area  (a  great  portion  of  it  was  a  vast  forest)  and 
population,  having  thus  received  the  Faith,  there  remained 
the  powerful  tribes  of  the  Saxons  in  the  South  and  East,  and 
the  Angles  in  the  North  and  Midlands.  The  Angles  occupied 
Northumbria,  comprising  the  Kingdom  of  Bernicia  on  the  North, 
and  Deira  on  the  South,  and  extending  from  the  Forth  to 
Lincolnshire.  The  Mercians,  too,  to  the  South,  were  Angles. 
It  was  with  the  Angles  of  Northumbria  that  the  Columban 
missionaries  came  first  in  contact.  In  625  Edwin,  King  of 
Northumbria,  then  a  heathen,  took  to  wife  Ethelburga,  the 

2  A 


354  EARLY   IRISH   HISTORY. 

daughter  of  Ethelbert  of  Kent.  She  was  attended  to  York  by 
Bishop  Paulinus  and  James  the  Deacon.  After  a  time  Edwin 
was  baptized  with  many  of  his  chief  men  on  Easter  Day,  627. 
Edwin  was  defeated  and  slain  in  the  Battle  of  Heathfield  (633) 
by  the  heathen  King  of  Mercia  and  his  Christian  ally,  Ceadwalla, 
who  overran  Northumbria  and  laid  all  waste  with  fire  and 
sword.  The  Christian  King,  as  Bede  tells  us,  was  more  cruel 
than  the  heathen,  Paulinus,  then  fled  with  Ethelburga  by  sea  to 
Kent,  and  though  James  the  Deacon  remained  and  did  what 
he  could  around  Catterick,  where  he  resided,  the  Faith  was, 
according  to  the  soundest  views,  virtually  extirpated  in 
Northumbria,  As,  however,  some  writers  indulge  in ,, vague 
generalities,  stating  or  suggesting  that  Northumbria  was 
largely  converted  by  Paulinus,  and  that  his  work  was  largely 
preserved  by  James  the  Deacon,  and  that  the  conversion  of 
Northumbria  may  be  fairly  claimed  for  the  Augustine  Mission, 
we  shall  give  a  few  particulars. 

Paulinus  brought  no  priests  with  him,  was  joined  by  no 
priests  there,  ordained  no  priests  there,  and  when  he  fled  there 
was  not  a  single  priest  between  the  Forth  and  the  Humber. 
Paulinus   went   into    the   North   of    Northumbria   with   the 
King  and  Queen  to  a  royal  residence,  Glendale,  and  stayed 
there  thirty   days,  catechising    and     baptizing     people   who 
came  from  the  surrounding  villages  and  localities.     But  this 
could  not  be  solid  and  permanent  conversion.     Bede  tells  us 
that  when  the  Columban  monks  arrived  "in  Bernicia  (z>.,  in 
Durham,   Northumberland,   and    northwards    to    Edinburgh) 
QO   sign,  so   far  as  we  can   discover,  of  the  Christian  faith 
existed,   no   church  or  altar   was  erected.''    (III.,   c.   2.)    In 
Deira  {i.e.,  Yorkshire)  at  a  place  where  he   was  often  wont 
to  stay  with  the  King,  he  baptized   in  the  river  Swale  which 
flows  by  Catterick,  near  Richmond,  for  no  oratories  or  fonts 
could  yet  be  made  in  those  parts.    He  built  one  wooden  church 
at  Campodunum  which  was  afterwards  burnt  by  the  Pagans, 
but  the  altar,  which  was  of  stone,  escaped,  and  was  preserved 
in  the  monastery  in  Elmete  Wood.     This  and  the  church  at 
York  were  the  only  churches  ever  built  by  Paulinus.     Edwin 
was  succeeded  in  Bernicia  by  Eanfried,  and  in  Deira  by  Osric. 
Both  apostatized,   and    were   slain  by   Ceadwalla   within  the 
year,  and  with  the  exception  of  James,  the  Deacon,  and  his 
friends  and  following  near  Catterick — who  cannot  have  been 


THE   TEACHING    OF   THE   NATIONS.  355 

of  much  account — the  light  of  the  Faith  was  extinofuished  in 
Northumbria,  and  the  task  before  the  Cohimban  mission  was 
more  difficult  than  if  it  had  never  been  lighted,  for  it  is  easier 
to  convert  a  heathen  than  to  reconvert  an  apostate. 
Cead walla,  however,  did  not  long  enjoy  his  victory.  Oswald 
the  brother  of  Eanfried,  who  had  been  an  exile  with  the 
Picts  and  Scots,  and  had  received  the  faith  from  the  Columban 
monks  at  lona,  advanced  with  a  small  army  against  him  to  a 
place  near  Hexham,  not  far  from  the  Roman  Wall,  The 
battlefield  was  known  in  after  times  as  Heavenfield.  The  day 
before  the  battle,  Columba  appeared  to  Oswald  as  he  slept  in 
his  tent,  and  his  lofty  stature  seemed  to  touch  the  clouds. 
"  Be  of  good  cheer,"  said  the  Saint,  "  and  play  the  man. 
Behold,  I  will  be  with  you.  Advance  from  the  camp  to-night  to 
battle,  for  the  Lord  has  granted  to  me  that  this  time  the  foe 
shall  be  put  to  flight  and  your  enemy,  Ceadwalla,  delivered  into 
your  hands,  and  you  shall  return  victorious  after  the  fight,  and 
reign  happily."  Oswald  then  got  up  and  told  this  vision  to  his 
Council,  and  the  whole  army,  who  were  Pagans^  except  Oswald 
and  twelve  more  who  had  been  baptized  by  the  monks  of  lona, 
promised  to  receive  the  faith  and  be  baptized  if  they  were 
victorious.  Oswald  attacked  the  following  night,  and 
Ceadwalla  was  routed  and  slain.  "  This  story  my  predecessor, 
Failbhe,  our  abbot,  told  to  me,  Adamnan.  He  stated  that  he 
had  heard  it  from  the  mouth  of  Oswald  himself  when  he  nar- 
rated the  particulars  of  his  vision  to  Abbot  Seghine  (5th  Abbot, 
623-652.)"^^  Oswald,  before  the  fight  commenced,  set  up  a  cross, 
which  was  standing  in  Bede's  time.  Oswald  then  became  King 
of  both  Bernicia  and  Deira,  and  the  supremacy  of  Northumbria 
was  assured  as  soon  as  the  tie  which  bound  them  together 
was  firmly  knit  by  a  solid  and  permanent  conversion  to  the 
Faith. 

As  soon  as  Oswald  ascended  the  throne,  being  desirous 
that  all  his  nation  should  receive  the  Christian  Faith,  whereof 
he  had  had  happy  experience  in  vanquishing  the  barbarians, 
he  sent  to  the  Elders  of  the  Scots,  among  whom  himself  and 
his  followers  in  exile  had  received  the  sacrament  of  Baptism, 
requesting  that  they  would  send  him  a  bishop,  by  whose 
instruction  and  ministry  the  English  nation,  which  he  governed, 

**  Adamnan,  c.  i.,  and  Green,  Slaking  of  England,  II.,  28. 


356  EARLY    IRISH   HISTORY. 

might  be  taught  the  advantages  and  receive  the  sacraments 
of  the  Christian  Faith.  Nor  were  they  slow  in  granting  his 
request,  but  sent  him  Bishop  Aidan,  a  man  of  singular  meekness, 
piety,  and  moderation,  zealous  in  the  cause  of  God,  though  not 
altogether  according  to  knowledge ;  for  he  was  wont  to  keep 
Easter  according  to  the  custom  of  his  country,  which  we  have 
before  so  often  mentioned,  from  the  14th  to  the  20th  Moon. 
But  the  Scots  of  the  South  had  long  since  (jamdudum),  by 
the  admonition  of  the  Bishop  of  the  Apostolic  See,  learned  tc 
observe  Easter  according  to  the  canonical  custom.^^  The  King 
appointed  him  as  his  Episcopal  Seat  the  Isle  of  Lindisfarne, 
which  lay  off  the  coast  of  Bernicia,  near  Bamborough,  which 
was  the  royal  seat.  When  Aidan,  who  was  not  skilful  in  the 
English  tongue,  preached  the  Gospel,  it  was  delightful  to  hear 
the  King  himself  interpreting  the  word  of  God  to  his  captains 
and  ministers  (ducihus  et  ministris),  for  he  had  perfectly 
learned  the  language  of  the  Scots  during  his  long  exile.  From 
that  time  many  of  the  Scots  came  from  their  parts  {i.e.,  lona) 
daily  into  Britain,  and  with  great  devotion  preached  the  Word 
to  those  provinces  of  the  English  over  which  the  King  reigned, 
and  those  among  them  that  had  received  priest's  orders 
administered  to  them  the  grace  of  Baptism.  Churches  were 
built  in  several  places,  the  people  joyfully  flocked  together  to 
hear  the  Word.  Money  and  lands  were  given  of  the  King's 
bounty  to  build  monasteries,  the  English,  great  and  small, 
were  by  their  Scottish  teachers  instructed  in  the  rules  of 
monastic  discipline,  as  well  as  the  higher  branches  of  education 
{ciiifn  majoribus  studiis),  for  most  of  them  that  came  to  preach 
were  monks.''^'^ 

From  the  English  youth  Aidan  selected  twelve  "  to  be 
specially  instructed  in  the  knowledge  of  Christ."  Among 
these  was  Eata.  who  was  afterwards  Bishop  of  Lindisfarne. 

If  our  readers  will  compare  these  methods  and  this 
organisation  with  the  action  of  Paulinus  they  will  readily 
comprehend  the  superficial  and  sporadic  character  of  the  work 

^'  Jamdiidum — long  since.  This  appears  a  strong  word  here.  The  Synod 
in  which  the  ' '  canonical  Esister "  was  adopted  was  held  in  632  or  633,  only  two 
or  three  years  before. 

20  Lindisfarne,  or  Holy  Island,  on  the  coast  of  Northumberland,  near  Bamborough 
Castle,  is  13  miles  S.E.  of  Berwick-on-Tweed.  It  is  3  miles  by  1^  miles,  nearly 
the  same  size  as  lona,  and  half  of  it  is  cultivated.  The  passage  from  the  mainland 
is  dry  sand  at  low  water,  about  If  miles  in  length. 


THE   TEACHING   OF   THE   NATIONS.  357 

of  the  latter,  who,  however,  it  must  be  said,  did  not  set  before 
himself  the  task  of  evangelizing  the  Angles.  To  complete 
Bede's  description,  which  comes  after  the  expulsion  of  Coleman, 
to  be  presently  related,  and  which  he  gives  with  evident  relish 
as  a  severe  rebuke  to  the  spiritual  decadence  of  his  own  time, 
we  add  further  from  him : — 

Aidan  was  wont  to  go  about  to  all  places  in  town  and  country  on 
foot  unless  any  urgent  necessity  compelled  him.  Moreover,  Aidan's 
course  of  life  was  so  different  from  the  slothfulness  of  ours  that  all  who 
walked  with  him,  whether  tonsured  or  laics,  were  employed  in  study, 
that  is,  either  in  reading  the  Scriptures  or  in  learning  the  Psalms. 
]Sever  through  fear  or  respect  did  he  fail  to  reprove  the  rich  if  they 
had  gone  wrong  in  aught,  but  corrected  them,  with  a  severe  rebuke. 
He  was  never  wont  to  give  money  to  the  powerful  of  the  world,  but 
what  he  got  from  them  he  gave  to  the  poor,  i.e.,  dispensed  in  ransoming 
those  who  had  been  unjustly  sold.  The  whole  thought  of  Aidan  and 
his  successors  and  all  the  missionaries  was  to  serve  God,  and  not  the 
world ;  their  whole  care  to  nourish  the  soul  not  the  belly.  Whence 
also  the  religious  habit  was  held  at  that  time  in  great  veneration,  so 
that  wherever  a  priest  or  monk  came  he  was  received  as  the  servant  of 
God ;  and  if  they  chanced  to  meet  him  on  the  way  they  ran  to  him 
and,  bowing,  were  glad  to  be  signed  with  his  hand  or  blessed  with  his 
mouth.  Also  they  gave  heed  diligently  to  his  words  of  exhortation. 
On  Sundays  they  flocked  eagerly  to  the  church  or  the  monasteries,  not 
to  feed  their  bodies  but  to  hear  the  word  of  God.  Stirred  up  by 
Aidan's  example,  men  and  women  who  were  "religious"  adopted  the 
custom  of  fasting  on  Wednesdays  and  Fridays  till  the  ninth  hour  (three 
o'clock)  throughout  the  year,  except  during  the  fifty  days  after  Easter. 
They  were  so  free  from  worldly  avarice  that  none  of  them  received 
lands  and  possessions  for  building  monasteries  unless  they  were  com- 
pelled to  do  so  by  "  the  powers  that  be,"  which  custom  was  for 
some  little  time  after  (6G4)  observed  in  all  the  Churches  of  North umbria. 

Bede  almost  forgave  Aidan  for  keeping  Easter  on  the  14th 
moon. 

He  kept  it  not,  as  some  falsely  suppose,  on  the  14th  moon  on  any 
day  of  the  week  with  the  Jews,  but  on  the  Lord's  Day,  from  the  14th 
moon  to  the  20th,  on  account  of  his  belief  in  the  Lord's  Resurrection 
on  that  day.  In  the  celebration  of  his  Easter  he  kept  in  heart, 
venerated,  and  preached  nothing  but  what  we  do,  that  is  the  redemption 
of  the  human  race  through  the  Passion  and  Resurrection  into  Heaven 
of  the  Mediator  between  God  and  men,  of  the  Man  Jesus  Christ."^ 
And  Aidan's  teaching  was  chiefly  commended  to  all  by  the  circumstance 
that  he  himself  taught  no  otherwise  than  as  he  and  his  followers  lived. 

^^  Aidan  died  in  651  and  was  succeeded  by  Finan,  who  was  succeeded  in  661 
by  Coleman,  another  monk  from  lona.  All  three  had  episcopal  charge  of  all  North - 
umbria.  It  was  in  Coleman's  time  that  the  great  conflict,  as  Bede  calln  it,  took 
place  on  the  Easter  question  at  Whitby.  The  dispute  ended  in  the  rout  of  the 
Columban,  and  the  triumphant  entry  of  the  DenedictiDe,  monks. 


358  EARLY   IRISH   HISTORY. 

We  may  add  here,  with  Bede,  "  But  enough  has  now  been 
said  on  this  subject."  ^^ 

It  is  needless  to  say  that  we  do  not  intend  to  open  here 
the  question  of  the  Easter  controversy.  We  shall  only  offer 
some  observations  to  enable  our  readers  to  understand  the 
precise  issue,  to  use  a  legal  phrase,  which  was  raised  at  Whitby. 
The  Jewish  year  was  lunar,  each  month  consisting  of  28  days, 
and  commencing  with  the  new  moon.  The  first  month  of  the 
year  was  called  Nisan.  The  full  moon  was  on  the  14th,  and 
to  bring  the  lunar  year  into  correspondence  with  the  solar  an 
intercalary  month  was  introduced,  so  that  the  14th  of  Nisan 
fell  on  the  14th  of  the  first  month  after  the  vernal  equinox,  as 
a  general  rule.  The  14th  day  of  the  visible  moon  in  Nisan  is 
held  to  have  determined  the  Jewish  Passover.  "  In  the  14th 
day  at  even  is  the  Lord's  Passover."  And  again:  "In  the 
first  month,  on  the  14th  day  of  the  month,  at  even,  ye  shall 
eat  unleavened  bread  until  the  one  and  twentieth  day  of  the 
month  at  even."  All  parties  agreed  that  the  Passion  of  our 
Lord  occurred  on  the  14th  Nisan,  and  that,  counting  inclusively, 
the  Resurrection  occurred  on  the  third  day  following.  If  the 
14th  Nisan  fell  on  a  Friday  all  parties  agreed  in  celebrating 
the  Passion  on  that  Friday  and  the  Resurrection  on  the 
following  Sunday. 

When,  however,  the  14th  Nisan  did  not  fall  on  a  Friday, 
but,  say,  on  a  Monday,  a  divergence  began.  The  Quarto- 
deciraans,  i.e.,  the  fourteenth-day  men,  as  they  were  called, 
celebrated  the  Passion  on  the  Monday,  regulating  the  time  of  the 
celebration  solely  by  the  day  of  the  month  ;  while  the  Orthodox, 
as  we  may  call  them  in  that  case,  waited  until  the  following 
Friday  to  celebrate  the  Passion  and  for  the  following  Sun- 
day to  celebrate  the  Resurrection.  Again,  of  the  Quarlo- 
decimans,  there  were  two  kinds,  i.e.  (1)  One,  the  heretical 
Ebionites  "  who  held,  with  the  continuance  of  the  obligation 
of  ancient  (Jewish)  law  in  general,  the  validity  of  the  old  legal 
Passover.  Their  festival,  then,  properly  speaking,  was  not 
Christian ;  it  was  rather  Jewish  (293)."  *^  (2)  There  was  a  second 
kind  of  Quartodecimans,  who  believed  in  the  abrogation  of 

^  What  we  have  written  ia  condensed  from  H.  E.  III.,  e.  5,  and  26.  Bede's 
language  lias  been  retained  as  far  as  postsible. 

2s  Hefde  I.  (Clark),  I.  293. — The  numerals  In  brackets  refer  to  the  pages  of 
this  volume. 


THE   TEACHING  OF   THE   NATIONS.  359 

the  Old  Law,  and  celebrated  Easter  on  the  14th  Nisan,  as  a 
Christian  celebration,  irrespective  of  the  day  of  the  week.  It 
was  these  latter,  we  think,  that  the  Council  of  Nicaea  had 
principally  in  view.  None  of  the  Canons  of  the  Council  of 
Nicaea,  not  even  those  of  doubtful  authenticity,  treat  of  the 
celebration  of  the  Easter  festival  (327).  Perhaps  the  Council 
wished  to  conciliate  those  who  were  not  ready  to  give  up 
immediately  the  customs  of  the  (Orthodox)  Quartodecimans. 
It  refused  to  anathematise  a  practice  which  had  been  handed 
down  from  apostolic  times  in  several  Orthodox  Churches  (328). 
There  were,  besides  the  Canons,  (1)  an  Encyclical  Letter  of  the 
Council,  which  states,  "All  the  brethren  in  the  East,  who 
formerly  celebrated  Easter  with  the  Jews,  will  henceforth  keep 
it  with  the  Romans  ; "  and  (2)  the  circular  letter  of  the 
Emperor  Constantino,  which  is  more  specific : — 

In  rejecting  their  (i.e.,  the  Jewish)  custom,  we  shall  transmit  to  our 
descendants  the  legitimate  mode  of  celebrating  Easter,  which  we  have 
observed  from  the  time  of  the  Saviour's  Passion  to  the  present  day 
(according  to  the  days  of  the  week)."^^  We  ought  not,  therefore,  to  have 
anything  in  common  with  the  Jews,  for  the  Saviour  has  shown  us 
another  way ;  our  worship  follows  a  more  legitimate  and  more  con- 
venient course  (the  order  of  the  days  oj  the  week).  Unanimously  adopting 
this,  we  desire,  dearest  brethren,  to  separate  ourselves  from  the  detest- 
able company  of  the  Jews  (322)." 

The  Gaelic  use  conformed  strictly  to  this.  The  Passion  was 
celebrated  on  Friday,  and  the  Resurrection  on  Sunday.  And 
further,  when  the  14th  Nisan  fell  on  Sunday  they  celebrated 
Easter  on  that  day,  as  was,  of  course,  done  always  by  the 
orthodox  Quartodecimans ;  and  they  always  asserted,  as  the 
fact  was,  that  in  doing  so  they  followed  the  use  of  the  party 
calling  themselves  Johannites,  rejecting,  however,  that  portion 
of  their  use  which  allowed  the  celebration  on  week  days  of 
Easter,  thus  conforming  to  the  circular  letter  of  the  Emperor. 
When  the  14th  Nisan  fell  on  Sunday  the  Roman  use  was  to 
wait  for  the  next  Sunday,  so  that  the  Roman  Palm  Sunday  was 
the  Easterday  of  the  Gael.  When  the  14th  Nisan  did  not  fall 
on  Sunday  there  was  no  difference  between  them. 

And  how  often  would  the  14th  Nisan  fall  on  Sunday? 
Easter  is  not  regulated  according  to  the  visible  moon  or  the 
mean  astronomical  moon,  nor  by  the  true  calculated  time  of  the 
new  moon. 

'^N.B. — The  words  in  brackets  are  Hefele's,  indicating  his  view,  to  which  we 
ittach  the  higlient  importance. 


360  EAKLY   IRISH    HISTORY. 

Easter  is  regulated  according  to  the  age  of  the  Calendar 
or  Ecclesiastical  moon.  All  the  day  on  which  the  new  moon 
is  supposed  to  occur  {i.e.  the  calendar  moon)  though  it  be 
only  a  minute  before  midnight,  is  reckoned  the  first  day  of  the 
moon.  Easter  day  is  the  Sunday  following  thskt  fourteenth  day 
of  the  Calendar  moon,  which  14th  day  happens  upon  or  next 
after  the  21st  day  of  March.  So  that  if  the  said  14th  day  be  a 
Sunday,  Easter  day  is  not  that  Sunday,  but  the  next.  The 
earliest  possible  Easter  is  thus  the  22nd  March,  the  latest  the 
25th  April.  If  the  14th  moon  falls  on  20th  day  of  March  it  is 
necessary  to  wait  for  the  14th  day  of  the  next  moon,  which  will 
fall  on  the  18th  of  April,  and  if  this  day  is  Sunday,  Easter 
day  will  be  the  following  Sunday,  April  25th.  We  are  unable 
to  say  how  often  the  14th  moon  fell  on  the  21st  day  of  March  ; 
but  we  find  it  stated  that  Easter  occurred  only  four  times  on  the 
22nd  day  of  March  since  the  new  style  was  introduced  (1582). 
In  1761  and  1818  Easter  day  fell  on  22nd  of  March,  but  neither 
in  the  present  nor  in  the  following  century  will  this  be  the 
case  again,  and  we  fancy  the  14th  moon  did  not  fall  oftener  on 
the  2lst  of  March.  The  latest  Easter  occurs,  in  the  19th  and 
20th  centuries,  in  1886  and  1943  only.  So  that  the  14th  moon 
appears,  as  we  infer,  to  occur  only  on  these  occasions,  on  the 
20th  of  March,  as  we  have  explained. 

This  question  of  the  celebration  of  Easter  on  the  14th  moon 
being  Sunday,  which  we  shall  call  the  Gaelic  use,  must  be  kept 
distinct  from  the  question  of  the  methods  of  computing  the 
various  cycles?^ 

"^^  The  Easter  question  is  discussed  by  A.  De  Morgan  in  the  Companion  to 
the  British  Almanac/,:,  1845.  In  this  year  the  full  moon  that  came  first  after  the 
2ist  of  March — i.e.,  the  inooii  of  the  heavens — was  Easter  Sunday,  which  waa 
regtilated  by  the  Calendar. 

To  illustrate  our  view  let  us  explain.  A  new  calendar  moon  (epact)  on  the 
8th  March  becomes  "the  14th  moon"  on  the  21st.  Therefore,  to  have  a  14th 
moon  on  the  2l8t  we  must  have  a  new  moon  on  the  8th  March.  Now,  referring 
to  the  "Extended  Table  of  Epacts,"  i.e.,  new  moons,  in  Enci/dopcedia  Britannica 
(vol.  iv.,  673)  the  line  B  represents  the  line  of  epacts  for  three  centuries,  from 
900  to  1200.  The  ep:Lct  for  the  8th  of  March  during  this  period  is  S-i,  which 
iloes  not  oc«ur  among  the  epacts  on  line  B,  so  that  for  these  three  centuries  there 
will  be  no  new  calendar  moon  on  the  8th  March,  and  no  14th  moon  on  the  21st 
March,  and  no  Easter  Sunday  on  the  •22ud.  The  epact  23  occurs  in  other  linos 
of  epacts  generally  once  in  the  cycle  of  19  years,  never  more,  in  the  Table 
mentioned,  so  that  if  the  new  moon  fell  on  the  8th,  as  the  14th  might  fall  on  any 
day  of  the  week,  it  is  against  probability  that  it  would  occur  more  than  once  in  a 
oentury.  The  writer  of  the  article  on  Euster  (in  the  Diet,  of  Christ.  Antiq.,  vol.  I., 
p.  673)  says  that  the  14th  moon  fell  on  iSunday  (the  'ilst  of  Match  as  we  understand 
him)  in  64.3,  647,  648,  651.  This  means  that  the  new  moon  fell  on  the  8th  of 
March  in  each  of  these  years,  and  that  the  14th  fell  always  on  the  Sunday.  There 
must  be  Bonie  mistake  here.     Bede  refers  to  one  occasiou  only. 


THE   TEACHING  OF   THE   NATIO^^S.  361 

We  cannot  open  the  question  of  the  formation  of  the  cycles 
here.  The  difficulties  of  arranging  one  which  should  give  a 
true  equinox,  a  true  new  moon,  with  fixed  days  of  the  month 
and  week,  were  practically  insuperable.  The  age  of  the  moon, 
for  one  thing,  varied  with  longitude.  The  moon  at  Dublin 
might  rise  at  10  minutes  after  12  o'clock  at  midnight  on  the 
20th  of  March,  and  Easter  would  come  on  that  moon.  At 
Greenwich  it  would  rise  10  minutes  before  midnight  on  the  20th 
of  March,  and  it  would  be  necessary  to  wait  for  the  next  moon. 
There  were  numerous  cycles.  We  need  only  mention  Hippolytus, 
a  cycle  of  16  years  (A.D.  225c) ;  Theophilus  of  Alexandria,  A.D. 
380,  with  a  cycle  of  437  years ;  Cyril  of  Alexandria,  A.D.  412, 
with  one  of  95  years,  which  was  very  celebrated ;  Victorinus, 
of  Acquitaine,  said  to  be  the  real  author  of  the  Dionysiau 
tjycle  of  532  years,  which  is  assigned  to  A.D.  530c,  and  which 
was  arranged  by  Dionysius  Exiguus,  an  abbot  at  Rome.  The 
divergences  between  these  cycles  were  very  great,  and  Easter 
was  celebrated  by  the  orthodox  at  widely  different  times. 

In  387,  as  we  learn  from  a  letter  of  St.  Ambrose  (Ep.  23), 
the  churches  of  Gaul  kept  Easter  on  the  21st  of  March,  the 
churches  of  Italy  on  April  the  18th,  and  the  churches  of  Egypt 
on  April  the  25th.  But  the  Gaelic  use  had  nothing  to  say  to 
this,  and  this  divergence  would  have  existed  just  the  same  if 
the  Gael  kept  the  Roman  Easter  as  defined  by  Bede,  i.e.,  from 
the  15th  to  the  21st  moon.  The  only  difference  that  could 
have  arisen  from  the  Gaelic  use  was  that  the  Roman  Palm 
Sunday  might  possibly  be  the  Gaelic  Easter  day  once  or  twice 
in  a  century.  There  remained,  however,  in  the  Gaelic  use 
what  the  old  lawyers  would  call  a  scintilla  of  heresy,  just 
enough  to  enable  an  adroit  adversary  to  brand  them  as 
Quartodecimans,  and  as  some  Quartodecimans  were  heretics, 
an  undetected  flaw  in  the  logic  would  carry  him  through 
in  proving  that  the  Scots  were  heretics  and  should  be 
"eliminated"  by  the  secular  arm.  Aldhelm  charges  the 
Cornish  with  being  Quartodecimans  and  heretics.^^  Sigebert, 
a  Benedictine  monk  of  Gerabloux,  near  Namur  (1103-1112), 
states  boldly  that  "  Coluraba,  in  his  rustic  simplicity,  neither 
learned  nor  taught  the  celebration  of  Easter  on  the  Sunday,"'^'^ 

2«  H.  db  S.  Ill,  271. 

■^  Coluinba  rusticas  implicitate  pascha  dominica  die  celebrari  neque  didicit 
neque  docuit.    Alon.  Germ.  VII.  3iiQ,  ad.  ann.  59S. 


362  EARLY   IRISH   HISTORY. 

i.e.,  that  he  kept  Easter  on  week-days  like  the  heretical 
Quartodecimans.  The  letter  from  Rome  in  640  during  the 
vacancy  of  the  chair,  equivalent  to  a  Papal  Rescript,  which  is 
given  by  Bede,  refers  to  the  Gaelic  use,  as  a  renovation  of  the 
Quartodeciman  heresy,  "  endeavouring  against  the  true  Faith 
to  revive  a  new  heresy  from  an  old  one  and  striving  to  celebrate 
Easter  on  the  14th  moon  with  the  Jews.-^  Finally,  "  it  was 
revealed  by  the  Holy  Spirit"  to  a  Benedictine  nun,  as  she 
tells  us,  in  1170,  and  published  under  authority  to  the  world 
in  her  Life  of  St.  Desihod  (+674),  that  when  he  was  bishop 
of  some  unnamed  See  in  Ireland  (probably  not  long  before  the 
Synod  at  Whitby),  which  he  held,  she  saj^s,  for  ten  years,  the 
people  rejecting  the  Old  and  New  Testament  and,  rejecting 
Christ,  followed  the  sect  of  the  JewsP  It  was  undoubtedly  on 
the  charge  of  heresy,  as  we  shall  see,  that  the  Columban 
monks  were,  in  Bede's  words,  "  exposed  and  eliminated  " — 
literally  turned  out  of  house  and  home  ;  in  one  hateful  word, 
evicted.^^ 

^  Novam  ex  veteri  hreresi  renovare  conantes  .  .  .  pascha  nostrum  refutantes  ct 
xiiii.,  luna  cum  Hebrieis  celebrare  nitentcs. — H.  E.  ii.  c.  19. 

^  Aliis  quidam  Veteri  et  Novo  ToBtamento  resistentibus  Christumquo  abne- 
gantibus  aliis  sectam  Judaeorum  apprehendentibus. —  Vita  Disibodi,  Migne,  torn. 
97,  p.  1,100.  "  Est  historia  divinitus  revelata  sed  (sic)  propter  anthoris  singularem 
sanctitatem  et  authoritatem  minime  contemnenda  ! " — Surnis  Vita,  July  8. 

^  Detpcta  et  eliminata  ut  supra  docuimua  Scotorum  secta — H.  £.,  v.  19. 
"  The  name  '  Quartodecimans  '  was  always  a  haudy  stick  with  which  to  beat  the 
Celtic  dog." — Plumraer,  H.  E.,  ii.  114.  Surely  it  ia  a  cruel  and  cowardly  policy  to 
cudgel  the  watch-dog  to  placate  the  highwayman. 


[    363    J 


CHAPTER  XXV. 

THE   SECT   OF   THE    SCOTS. 

DOME  was  not  consulted  and  knew  nothing  about  the  pro- 
ceedings that  led  up  to  the  elimination  of  the  "  Sect  of  the 
Scots."  Deusdedit  was  then  Archbishop  of  Canterbury.  He 
had  neither  art  nor  part  in  them.  This  will,  of  course,  carry 
no  weight  with  men  who  still  maintain  that  the  Scottish 
church  was  independent,  and  not  in  communion  with  Rome. 
"We  shall  not  pause  here  to  argue  this  point.  The  statement 
of  our  apostle,  which  we  have  already  given,  suffices  for  us,  and 
if  any  of  our  readers  desires  corroboration  he  will  find  abun- 
dant evidence  in  the  Essays  of  Cardinal  Moran.  There  is, 
however,  another  view  which  is  more  insidious  and  equally 
untenable.  It  is  indicated  by  the  heading  of  the  chapter  in 
which  Montalembert  introduces  the  career  of  Wilfrid :  St. 
Wilfrid  establishes  Roman  Unity  and  the  Benedictine  Order. 
And  again — The  end  of  the  Celtic  Heresy.^ 

This  view  when  developed  reaches  the  proposition  that  the 
Gaelic  Church,  while  admitting  and  submitting  to  the  supreme 
authority  and  jurisdiction  of  the  Holy  See  in  matters  of 
doctrine,  was  disobedient,  recalcitrant,  schismatical,  and, 
possibly,  heretical  in  matters  of  discipline,  in  which  it  main- 
tained an  independent  attitude.  The  letters  of  Columbanus  to 
the  Holy  See  prove  conclusively  that  he  was  not  only  ready 
to  accept,  but  eager  to  receive,  the  "Cathedral  Judgment"  of  the 
Pope  on  the  Paschal  question. 

There  are  some  expressions  in  these  letters  for  which  he 
himself  claims  a  very  necessary  indulgence.  It  was,  however,  no 
unusual  thing  in  medieeval  times  for  the  Pope  to  receive  a 
little  lecture  from  some  male  or  female  saint,  generally  veiled 
under  tbe  form  of  exhortation.  These,  Gregory,  being  a  monk 
himself,  and  thus  knowing   the  ways  of  monks,    would  read 

1  Book  XII  .,  c.  3. 


364  EARLY   IRISH   HISTORY. 

with  a  smiie.  Autres  temps,  autres  moeurs.  "  The  native 
liberty  of  my  race,"  writes  Columbanus,  "  has  given  me  that 
boldness.  With  us  it  is  not  the  person  but  reason  that  counts.'' 
(iVon  enim  apud  nos  persona  sed  ratio  valet.)  "  We  are  bound 
to  the  chair  of  Peter.  There  has  never  been  either  a  heretic, 
a  Jew,  or  a  schismatic  amongst  us.  We  receive  nothing  more 
than  the  apostolical  and  evangelical  doctrine.  Rome  is  the  head 
of  the  Churches  of  the  world,  saving  only  the  special  preroga- 
tive of  the  place  of  the  Lord's  resurrection,"*  Columbanus 
evidently  refers  to  the  7th  Nicaean  Canon,  which  has  puzzled 
many,  but  was  evidently  intended  to  preserve  some  honorary 
privilege  to  the  Church  of  Jerusalem  as  being  the  oldest.  A 
courtier  priest  would  not  have  mentioned  it  here ;  but  then 
courtier  priests  are  seldom  saints. 

The  letters  of  Columbanus  to  Gregory  and  to  Boniface 
not  only  show  clearly  that  he  recognized  the  authority  of  the 
Holy  See  in  matters  of  discipline  but  intimate  plainly  that  he 
was  prepared  to  abide  by  the  Pope's  decision  on  the  Paschal 
question.  In  the  first  letter  to  Gregory  he  seeks  his 
guidance  (1)  on  the  Paschal  question  (2)  on  holding  communion 
with  simoniacal  bishops,  of  whom  there  were  many  in  the 
province  {i.e.,  Gaul),  and  (3)  about  clerics  who  had  been  pro- 
moted to  the  rank  of  bishops  after  violating  the  rules  as  to 
celibacy^  whilst  deacons.  And  in  the  letter  to  Pope  Boniface 
he  says — "  We  pour  forth  our  prayers  to  thee  that  if  it  be  not 
contrary  to  faith  you  will  give  us,  struggling  pilgrims,  the 
comfort  of  your  pitiful  decision,  by  which  you  will  support  the 
tradition  of  our  elders,  by  which  it  will  be  in  our  power,  by 
your  judgment,  during  our  pilgrimage  (in  this  life)  to  keep 
Easter  according  to  the  use  we  have  received  from  our  fathers."^ 
If  the  Holy  See  had  then  adjudged  that  the  keeping  of  Easter 
on  the  14th  moon,  being  Sunday,  was  contrary  to  the  faith,  or 
enjoined  the  use  of  a  particular  cycle,  it  is  plain  that  Columbanus 
and  his  muintir  would,  though  perhaps  grudgingly,  and  with 
ill  grace,  have  acquiesced.     The  Holy  See  did  neither. 

'  Roma  orbis  terrarum  caput  est  eccle&iarum  salva  loci  Dominicas  resurrectionis 
singulari  prx-i-ogativa. — 7th  Canon. 

*  Columbanus  calls  it  adxdterium  cum  clientelis,  which  probably  meant 
simple  concubinage. 

■•  Preces  fundimus  ut  nobis  peregrinis  laborantibus  tuie  piae  sentontiae 
praestes  solatium  quo  ei  non  contra  fidem  est,  nostrorum  trailitionem  roboreg 
seniorum  quo  ritum  Paschae  ?icut  accepimas  a  majoribus  observare  per  tuum 
possiraus  judicium  in  nostra  peregriuatione. — Migne,  vol.  80,  p.  269. 


THE  SECT  OF  THE  SCOTS.  865 

The  contents  of  Columbanus's  letters  to  Gregory,  we  may 
assume,  became  known  to  the  bishops.  The  letters  were  inter- 
cepted, and  never  reached  the  Pope.  And  the  bishops  in  turn 
retaliated  on  Columbanus  for  his  opposition  to  popular  vices. 
They  denounced  him  as  a  Quartodeciman.  "  We  ought  not," 
they  proclaimed  (as  Columbanus  states  in  one  of  his  letters  to 
Pope  Gregory)  "  celebrate  Easter  with  the  Jews :  Gum  Jud<xis 
Faseha  facere  non  debermus."  A  reformer  is  bound  to  make 
bitter  enemies,  and  Columbanus  could  not  expect  to  fare  better 
than  St.  Martin.^  On  his  arrival  in  France  the  moral  condition 
of  the  whole  nation  was  deplorable. 

The  Merovingian  kings  practised  polygamy  and  simony, 
and  concubinage  prevailed  amongst  the  clergy.  Nor  were  the 
nunneries  free  from  scandals.  A  short  time  before  his  arrival 
a  mutiny  took  place  in  the  great  convent  of  St.  Croix  at 
Poictiers.  It  was  headed  by  a  princess  of  the  reigning  house. 
The  mutineers  broke  out  of  the  convent.  Grave  scandals 
followed.  The  princess  assembled  an  army  of  desperadoes, 
stormed  the  convent,  and  threatened  to  throw  the  abbess  over 
the  battlements.  Under  the  circumstances,  Columbanus, 
even  if  his  ways  were  gentle,  tactful,  and  conciliatory — which 
we  must  admit  they  were  not — could  not  avoid  making 
enemies.  He  was  expelled  by  Brunehault,  but  his  mission 
had  done,  and  continued  still  to  do,  good  work  and  prosper. 
Luxeuil  became  the  recognised  monastic  capital  of  all  the 
countries  under  Frankish  government — a  nursery  of  bishops 
and  abbots,  of  preachers  and  reformers.  From  the  banks  of 
the  Lake  of  Geneva  to  the  North  Sea  every  year  saw  the  rise 
of  some  daughter  house.  "It  would  be  a  hard  task,"  says 
Montalembert,  "  to  trace  that  monastic  colonization  of  Gaul, 
which  had  during  the  whole  of  the  7th  century  its  centre  in 
Luxeuil."  We  may  mention  Lure,  Romain  Moutier  in  a  pass 
on  the  southern  side  of  the  Jura,  Beze,  St.  Ursanne,  at  the 
head  waters   of  the  Doubs,   Moustier-Grandval,  Corbie  eight 

'  Martin  after  returning  to  his  diocese  (after  saving  the  lives  of  the 
Priscillianists  (whom  the  bishops  desired  that  Maximus  should  have  executed  for 
heresy)  had  also  to  undergo  the  scandalous  envy  and  enmity  of  many  bishops  and 
of  those  priests  of  Gaul  who  had  been  so  soon  tainted  by  Roman  luxury,  etc.— 
Montalembert,  I.  344. 

After  St.  Jerome  (  +  420)  St.  Augustin  (  +  430)  after  the  fathers  of  Lerins 
whose  splendour  faded  towards  450,  there  was  a  kind  of  eclipse,  and  the  monastic 
institution  seemed  to  have  fallen  into  the  sterility  and  torpor  of  the  East. — 
Montalembert,  I.  384. 


3(36  EARLY   IRISH   HISTORY. 

miles  east  of  Amiens,  from  which  went  St.  Ansgar,  the  apostle, 
of  Sweden  and  the  Danes,  St.  Bertin  at  St.  Omer,  St.  Riquier, 
near  the  Sorame,  Fontenelle  and  Jumieges,  in  the  diocese  of 
Rouen,  near  the  Seine,  Reuil  and  Rebais,  near  the  Marne, 
Lagny-sur-Marne,  where  St.  Fursey  died,  Moutier  la  Oelle,  near 
Troyes,  and  further  east  Hautvilliers  and  Moutier-en-Der,  St. 
Sallberga,  near  Laon,  Solognac,  near  Poictiers,  St.  Gall, 
near  the  spot  where  the  Rhone  enters  Lake  Constance, 
Dissentis  at  the  head  waters  of  the  Rhine,  Bobbio 
near  the  classic  Trebbia,  25  m.  S.E.  of  Pavia  where  the  great 
apostle  died  in  615  A.D.  and,  last  but  not  least,  the  foundations, 
more  celebrated  as  convents  for  ladies  than  as  monasteries, 
Jonarre  near  Meaux,  the  diocese  of  Bossuet,  Faremoutier  in 
Champagne,  and  Remiremont,^  in  the  Vosges  Mountains 
15m.  S.E.  of  Epinal.  From  the  death  of  Columbanus  (615) 
whea  his  muintir  seemed  to  be  solidly  established  in  France, 
a  movement  commenced  to  get  rid  of  the  Columban  system 
and  replace  it  by  the  Benedictine.  This  was  supported  by  the 
whole  weight  of  the  Papacy  from  Gregory  onwards.  The 
Benedictines  were  then  all-powerful. 

A  condominium  was  the  first  step.  The  two  rules  were 
placed  side  by  side  in  the  Columban  house,  and  as  the 
Benedictine  yoke  was  lighter  and  the  reins  more  loosely  held, 
it  gradually  prevailed.  It  was  only  natural  that  the  monks 
should  choose  the  easiest  road  to  Heaven,  though  in  the  result 
it  might  prove  somewhat  longer  than  they  expected,  In  the 
words  of  Montalembert :  "  Columbanus  sowed  and  Benedict 
reaped."'  Finally  things  came  to  such  a  pass  that  the  rule  of 
the  condominium  had  to  be  reformed,  and  the  reformed  rule,  at 
the  instance  of  St.  Benedict  of  Aniane,  was  made  compulsory 
and  enforced,  as  we  have  already  mentioned,  by  the  secular 
arm  on  all  monasteries  within  the  empire.  Even  as  early  as 
670,  at  a  Council  at  Autun  of  54  bishops,  held  by  St.  Leger, 
the  observance  of  the  rule  of  St.  Benedict  was  enjoined  on  all 
"  regulars ''    i.e.,    monks.      This    was    only    six  years   after 

®  The  nuns  were  afterwards  changed  to  Canonesses.  The  Abbess  alone  took 
perpetual  vows.  Proofs  of  nobility  were  required  as  at  Epinal  and  Porresey.  In 
the  last  mentioued,  which  was  the  lowest  in  rank,  eight  paternal  and  eight 
maternal  quarterings  were  required.  The  Canonesses  were  called  the  ladies  of 
Remiremont,  the  chambermaids  of  Epinal  and  the  laundresses  of  Porresey.  This 
was  of  course  after  the  "  elimination  "  of  the  Columban  monks,  when  the  Abbeasi 
ranked  as  a  princess  of  the  Holy  Roman  Empire. — Montalembert  II.,  35i. 

7  Hefele  (Clark)  Vol.  C. 


THE   SECT   OF   THE   SCOTS.  367 

the   Synod   of   Whitby,   to   which   we   must   now   direct  our 
narrative.^ 

The  protagonist,  perhaps  we  should  say  the  persecutor,  in 
the  controversy  was  Wilfrid,  then  thirty  years  of  age,  who  had 
recently  received  priest's  orders.  His  life  has  been  written  by 
Eddi,  or  Eddius,  a  Benedictine  monk,  who  published  it  with  the 
approval  of  his  superiors.  It  may,  therefore,  be  fairly  regarded  as 
an  official  record  of  Wilfrid's  life  from  the  Benedictine  standpoint. 
What  Bede  has  said  about  him  rests  almost  entirely  on  the 
narrative  of  Eddius,  except  the  account  he  gives  of  the  Synod 
of  Whitby,  and  here  he  is  fuller,  more  learned  and  less  reliable. 
We  shall  follow  Eddius.  From  him  we  learn  that  Wilfrid 
came  of  a  good  Northumbrian  family.  In  his  14th  year  he 
entered  Lindisfarne,  where,  as  we  have  seen,  the  Oolumban 
monks  kept  a  school  for  gentle  and  simple. 

It  is  said  he  did  not  agree  with  his  stepmother,  which, 
judging  from  after  events,  does  not  at  all  imply  that  the  fault 
was  entirely  on  her  side.  Eddius  tells  us  that  his  father 
provided  him  with  a  suitable  princely  outfit,  arras  and  horses, 
for  himself  and  his  attendants  (pueris),  and,  giving  him  his 
blessing,  sent  him  to  the  King's  Court  at  Bamborough.  Here 
he  was  well  received  by  the  men  whom  he  waited  on  at  his 
father's  table.  He  was  presented  to  the  queen.  His  good 
looks  and  ready  wit  made  a  favourable  impression,  and  she 
promised  to  befriend  him.  "  He  had  left  the  broad  acres  of  his 
father  to  seek  a  celestial  kingdom,"  Eddius  assures  us.  The 
princely  equipment,  however,  would  be  more  easily  understood 
by  us  if  he  had  earthly  ambitions  in  view.  At  any  rate  he 
went  to  Lindisfarne,  but  though  he  remained  there  "  a  circle  of 
years,"  probably  four  or  five,  he  did  not  receive  the  tonsure. 
Then,  being  still  a  layman,  "  this  wise-minded  youth  perceived 
by  degrees  that  the  way  of  virtue  delivered  by  the  Scots  was 
very  defective"  and  expressed  a  wish  to  visit  Rome.  The 
abbot  at  Lindisfarne  at  once  assented  to  his  dear  son  receiving 
the  greatest  of  all  earthly  blessings,  i.e.,  the  privilege  of  visiting 
the  tombs   of   the  apostles.*    This   does  not   look   as   if   the 

•  The  rule  of  Columbanu3  was  gradually  eclipsed,  and  the  rule  of  Benedict 
was  introduced  and  triumphed  everywhere,  whilst  still  we  cannot  instance  a  single 
man  above  the  ordinary  mark,  a  single  celebrated  saint  who  could  have  contributed 
to  that  surprising  victory  by  his  personal  influence. — Montalembert  II.,  357. 

•Hunc  autem  sensum  domino  suo  enotuit,  qui  statim,  ut  erat  sapiens,  sug. 
gfestum  a  Deo  esse  cognoscens  oonsensum  dedit  filio  suo  carissimo  omnis  boni 
caput  accipere. — Edd.  c.  3. 


368  EARLY   IRISH   HISTORY. 

Columbans  were  at  variance  with  Rome,  or  had  any  great  wish 
to  retain  Wilfrid  in  the  monastery.  The  Queen  Eanfleda,  by 
the  advice  of  his  father,  then  sent  him  in  honourable  manner 
to  her  cousin,  Erconbert,  King  of  Kent.  During  his  stay  in 
Kent  an  incident  occurred  which  ought  to  have  taught  him  a 
lesson  in  toleration.  At  Lindisfarne  he  had  learned  the  revised 
translation  of  the  Psalter  which  Jerome  made  from  the 
Septuagint.  A  less  correct  version,  of  an  earlier  date,  a  cursory 
revision  of  the  old  Itala,  was  in  use  in  Kent.  Nobody  thought 
of  persecuting  the  monks  at  Canterbury  because  they  did  not 
use  the  better  recension.  Wilfred  learned  their  Psalter  without 
demur,  and  was  none  the  worse  for  it.  After  a  year  he  set  out 
with  Benedict  Biscop  for  Rome.  They  parted  company  at 
Lyons.  Benedict  went  on  to  Rome  and  Wilfrid  remained. 
Delfinus  (rede,  it  is  said,  Annenundus)  the  archbishop,  thought 
seemingly  that  Wilfrid  was  better  suited  for  secular  life,  and 
offered  to  provide  him  with  a  wife  in  the  person  of  his  niece, 
saying,  "  If  you  remain  with  me  I  will  give  you  faithfully  a 
good  part  of  the  Gauls  to  govern  as  a  secular  (in  saeculam) 
and  the  virgin  daughter  of  my  brother  to  wife,  and  will  myself 
adopt  you  as  a  son."  ^^  Wilfrid  answered,  "  that  he  had  made  a 
vow  to  the  Lord  that  he  would  visit  the  Apostolic  See  to  learn 
the  rules  of  Ecclesiastical  discipline,  but  if  he  lived  he  would 
see  his  face  on  his  way  back."  To  Rome  then  he  went,  and 
after  a  stay  of  six  months  returned  to  Lyons,  where  he  remained 
three  years.  The  archbishop  then  gave  him  the  Roman  tonsure 
and  the  order  of  subdeacon,  probably  intending  to  make  him 
his  successor  {hxredera),  but  he  was  unfortunately  murdered  in 
657  or  658,  on  some  political  charge,  by  the  order  of  Ebroin. 
the  Mayor  of  the  Palace.  Wilfrid  then  returned  to  England. 
We  can  only  surmise  what  would  have  happened  but  for  the 
murder  of  the  archbishop.  Oswy's  son,  Alchfrid,  was  then 
sub-king  over  Deira,  and  all  was  well  up  to  this  time  between 
him  and  the  Columbans.  Some  three  years  before  Alchfrid  had 
invited  Columban  monks  from  Melrose  and  given  them  lands  at 

^•^Si  manseris  mecum  fiducialiter  dabo  tibi  bonam  partem  galliarum  ad  regendam 
in  seculum,  virginemque  filiam  fratria  mei  in  uxorem,  et  teipsum  adoptivum  filiuni 
habebo  et  tu  me  patrem  in  omnibus  fideliter  adjuvanteui. — ^Edd.  Vita,  c.  6. 

We  think  the  context  supports  the  view  we  present  that  the  otfer  was  that 
Wilfrid  should  marry  the  niece  and  then  take  orders  as  a  secular.  It  is  very 
unlikely  that  the  archbishop  could  have  power  to  appoint  a  foreigner  as  civil 
governor  over  an  important  district.  We  cannot  accept  Major  and  Lumby's 
translation,  "a  good  part  of  Gaul  to  rule  for  ever"  (Bedae  Hist.,  p.  271.  We 
think  in  saecalinn  means  here  as  a  secular  priest. 


THE   SECT   OF   THE   SCOTS.  369 

Ripon  to  build  a  monastery,  which  was  in  due  time  consecrated, 
and  Eata  became  the  first  abbot.  He  was  not  destined 
to  hold  the  abbey  lands,  the  abbey,  or  the  abbacy  long. 
Wilfrid  came  upon  the  scene.  He  had  evidently  brought 
with  him  from  the  south  of  France  the  hostile  feelings 
of  the  southern  bishops  against  the  Columban  monks,  and 
the  old  battlecry,  "  We  ought  not  to  celebrate  Easter  with 
the  Jews."  He  had  also  brought  with  him,  no  doubt,  the  latest 
novelty  in  Paschal  Tables — the  Cycle  of  Dionysius  the  Little. 
Dionysius,  a  Scythian  and  a  monk  in  a  Roman  monastery,  in 
526  drew  up  five  nineteen-year  cycles,  from  532  to  626,  and 
prefixed  to  his  Table  two  explanatory  letters.  "  The  first 
letter  contains  one  of  the  most  audacious  falsehoods  on  record. 
In  elucidating  the  Easter  method,  he  follows,  he  states,  in  all 
things  the  decree  of  the  318  Nicene  Pontiffs,  who  composed  a 
(lecemnovenal  cycle  of  Paschal  14th  moons  to  last  for  ever,  a 
rale  sanctioned  by  them  not  so  much  owing  to  secular  know- 
ledge as  to  illumination  of  the  Holy  Spirit.^^  This  is  taken 
from  the  Proterian  letter,  with  318  Nicene  Pontiffs 
substituted  for  our  most  blessed  (Alexandrine)  fathers  in 
the  original ! !  "  There  was,  as  we  have  already  stated,  no 
such  canon  made  at  the  Council  of  Nicaea  ;  but  if  there  had 
been  one  in  the  usual  form,  with  an  anathema  against  any  one 
offending  wilfully  against  it,  he  would  have  been  outside 
the  pale  of  the  Church.  Wilfrid,  who  is  found  at  the 
court  of  Alchfrid  as  his  adviser,  soon  after  his  arrival  in 
Britain  opened  the  campaign  with  an  attack  on  Eata  and  the 
monks  at  Ripon.  "  Conform  or  clear  out "  was  his  ultimatum. 
The  secular  arm  did  the  rest.  Bede  tells  us  in  his  Life  of 
Cuthbert,  "  When  some  years  after  it  pleased  King  Alchfrid, 
for  the  redemption  of  his  soul,  to  give  to  the  Abbot  Eata  a 
certain  domain  in  his  kingdom  called  Ripon,  there  to  con- 
struct a  monastery,  the  same  Abbot  took  some  of  the  brethren 
along  with  him,  among  whom  Cuthbert  was  one.  He  founded 
the  required  monastery,  and  in  it  instituted  the  same 
discipline  which  he  had  previously  established  at  Melrose." 
"  Here  Cuthbert  was  appointed  as  guest-master,  and 
going     out    one     day    from     the    inner    buildings    of    the 

^^  Dr.  MacCarthy  in  his  note  gives  the  parallel  passages  from  the  Proterian 
letter  and  Dionysius  showing  the  lalsification,  and  cites  Duchesne  {Lib.  Pontif. 
(18S6)  p.  Uiv.— "  Cette  decision  u'a  jamais  exists.")     Ann.  U'-st.  l.V.  Ivii, 

S  B 


870  EARLY   IRISH   HISTORr. 

monastery  to  the  guest-chamber  he  found  a  young  man 
there  etc." — CVII.  "Meanwhile,  since  the  whole  con- 
dition of  this  world  is  fragile  and  unsteady  as  the  sea 
when  a  sudden  tornado  arises,  the  above-named  abbot  Eata, 
with  Cuthbert  and  the  rest  of  the  brethren  whom  he  had 
brought  with  him,  were  driven  back  home  (repulsus  doynum) 
and  all  the  monastery  which  he  had  founded,  with  the  lands, 
was  given  to  other  monks  to  occupy." — CVIII.  The  Columbans, 
like  many  a  Gael  in  after  time,  refused  to  conform,  and  were 
evicted,  and  their  lands  and  buildings  were  taken  over  by 
Wilfrid,  who  had,  moreover,  previously  obtained  from  Alchfrid 
a  large  grant  of  land  at  Stamford  Bridge.  "  Further,"  writes 
Bede,  "  Alchfrid  having  for  his  instructor  in  Christian  learninc; 
Wilfrid,  a  most  learned  man  (for  he  had  gone  to  Rome 
previously  for  the  sake  of  ecclesiastical  doctrine,  and  had  spent 
a  long  time  with  Delfinus,  Archbishop  of  Lyons,  from  whom 
also  he  had  received  the  crown  of  the  ecclesiastical  tonsure) 
knew  that  his  teaching  was  to  be  justly  preferred  to  all  the 
traditions  of  the  Scots.  Wherefore  he  had  also  given  him  a 
monastery  of  forty  families  in  a  place  called  Ripon,  which 
place,  to  wit,  he  had  granted  some  short  time  previously  to 
those  who  followed  the  Scots  as  the  possessors  of  a  monastery. 
But  because  afteriuards  when  the  option  was  given  them  they 
were  willing  rather  to  quit  the  place  than  to  change  their  use, 
he  gave  it  to  him  {i.e.,  Wilfrid)  whose  teaching  and  life  were 
worthy  of  the  place. — H.E.  III.,c.  25.  This  iniquitous  confisca- 
tion took  place  in  6G1  or,  at  latest,  in  662  ;  two  or  three  years 
before  the  Synod  at  Whitby.  The  Columbans  were  evicted 
before  trial,  because  their  doctrine,  not  their  computation  on 
the  Paschal  question,  was  deemed  not  worthy  of  the  place. 
Some  time  after  this  Wilfrid  received  the  order  of  priesthood. 
Being  in  the  diocese  of  Coleman,  whom  Eddius  styles 
metropolitan  bishop  of  York,  Coleman  was  the  proper  person  to 
ordain  him,  and  no  other  prelate  could,  according  to  the  well- 
established  Canon,  ordain  a  priest  in  his  diocese  without 
formal  leave  obtained  from  him.  Wilfrid,  however,  disregarded 
the  rule.  Probably  he  did  not  consider  Coleman  a  bishop  at 
all,  though  Eddius  inaccurately  describes  him  as  a  metro- 
politan. There  was  at  the  time  a  bishop  named  Agilbert 
staying  in  Deira  on  his  way  to  Era  ace.  He  was  a  Gaul  by 
birth,  but  had  lived  many  years   in   (the  South  of)    Ireland 


THE    SECT   CF   THE   SCOTS.  871 

for  the  purpose  of  studyinpf  the  Scriptures.  Having  been 
consecrated  bishop  he  went  into  WeiBsex,  where  King  Coinwalch 
appointed  him  bishop  of  his  territory.  He  was  probably 
consecrated  in  Ireland,  as,  if  he  had  been  consecrated  in 
France,  Bede  would  not  have  omitted  to  say  so.  After  a  time 
Coinwalch,  tired  of  his  barbarous  dialect,  divided  the  diocese 
and  gave  Wini  an  episcopal  See  in  the  southern  half,  at 
Winchester.  Wini,  we  may  add,  was  expelled  a  few  years 
later,  and  then  bought  for  money  the  episcopal  See  of  London 
Agilbert  took  umbrage  at  the  division  of  his  diocese  made 
without  his  consent.  He  was  not  content  with  the  northern 
half,  i.e.,  with  the  See  of  Dorchester,  and  he  resolved  to  leave 
Wessex  and  return  to  Gaul.  He  was,  we  may  conjecture,  on  a 
visit  to  Deira  before  starting,  when  both  he  and  Wilfrid  set 
the  Canon  Law  at  defianca.  When  St.  Falco  of  Tongres  crossed 
the  border  of  the  diocese  of  St.  Remigius  and  ordained  priests 
at  Mouzon,  the  latter  wrote  him  a  sharp  letter,  which  has 
reached  us.  It  runs  :  "I  think  it  right  to  inform  you  that  I 
have  removed  (i.e.,  suspended?)  those  Levites  and  priests  from 
their  orders  whom  you  have  made  against  all  order.  It  did 
not  become  me  to  acknowledge  those  whom  it  did  not 
become  you  to  ordain." 

Having  dislodged  the  enemy  from  Ripon,  Wilfrid,  now 
priest  and  abbot,  advanced  to  the  attack  of  Lindisfarne. 
Coleman  "  kept  Easter  with  the  Jews,"  therefore  he  was  to  be 
"  eliminated."  Well,  if  there  was  anything  uncanonical  in 
Coleman's  position,  the  proper  person  to  investigate  this 
was  the  Archbishop  Deusdedit,  who  had  then  metropolitan 
jurisdiction  over  all  English  Britain.  He  was  not  even  con- 
sulted in  the  matter.  Wilfrid,  having  Alchfrid  to  back  him  up^ 
put  King  Oswy  in  motion,  and  what  is  called  a  Synod  was 
assembled  at  Whitby  in  664.  Deusdedit  was  not,  of  course, 
present.  "  His  absence  is  accounted  for  easily  by  the  fact 
that  the  whole  scheme  was  got  up  by  Wilfrid's  zeal,  taking 
advantage  of  his  friend  Agilbert's  visit  to  King  Alclifrid,  and 
to  himself  at  Ripon,  and  was  managed  accordingly  on  the 
anti-Scottish  side  wholly  by  Agilbert  and  Wilfrid."  ^^ 

Two  accounts  deserving  notice  have  reached  us  concerning 
what  occurred  at  the  Synod  of  Whitby.  The  first  is  by  Eddius 
or  Eddi.     He  was  a  chanter  at  Canterbury,  and  was  brought 

12  Haddon  and  Stubbs'  Council,  III.,  106. 


372  tARLY   IRISH   HISTORY. 

by  Wilfrid  to  the  north.  He  lived  on  the  most  intimate  terms 
with  him,  and  accompanied  him  to  Rome  on  his  second  appeal 
after  his  second  expulsion  from  his  diocese  in  704.  After 
Wilfrid's  death  he  was  requested  by  Acca,  Bishop  of  Hexham, 
and  Tathbert,  Abbot  of  Ripon,  a  kinsman  of  Wilfrid,  to  write 
his  life.  His  MS.  was,  of  course,  submitted  to  them,  and 
underwent  the  usual  examination  and  censura  of  his  monastic 
superiors.  It  must,  therefore,  be  regarded  as  a  contemporary 
official  record  of  the  Benedictine  Order.  It  is  brief  and  to  the 
point.  Bede's  account,  years  later,  is  much  longer  and  less 
reliable.  Bede  had  himself  written  on  the  Paschal  question,^^ 
and  where  he  differs  from  Eddius  the  additions  are,  we  think, 
his  own  views.  And  though  his  feelings  towards  the  Scots 
are  compassionate,  appreciative,  and  sympathetic,  still  he,  too, 
was  writing  under  the  censura,  and  a  few  of  his  sentences  are 
so  harsh  that  they  seem  to  have  been  introduced  to  meet  tlie 
views  of  his  superiors,  and,  as  it  were,  balance  the  softer 
judgments  of  Bede's  kindly  disposition.  And  this  again  leads 
him  to  soften  and  tone  down  the  harsher  and  more  masterful 
traits  of  Wilfrid's  character,  with  which  tendency  the  Benedic- 
tine censors  did  not  quarrel  We  shall  therefore  follow  Eddius 
as  a  general  rule,  condensing  his  narrative.     He  writes : — 

One  time,  in  the  days  when  Coleman  was  Metropolitan  Bishop  of 
York,  in  the  reign  of  Oswy  and  his  son  AlchfiiJ,  abbots  and  priests 
and  ecclf'siastics  of  every  degree  assembled  in  the  monastery  which  is 
called  Whitby  (Streaneshalgh)  in  the  presence  of  the  pious  Hilda, 
Mother  Abbess,  and  of  the  kings,  and  two  bishops,  Coleman  and  Agil- 
bert,  to  try  which  was  the  true  method  of  keeping  Easter — whether 
according  to  the  use  of  the  Britons  and  Scots  and  all  the  northern  region, 
from  the  11th  moon  coming  the  Lord's  Day  to  the  20th, ^^  or  wh<>ther 
it  was  more  correct  to  celebrate  Easter  Sundiy  from  the  15th  moon  to 
the  21st. 

This  was  the  only  issue  to  be  tried,  which  may  be  re-stated 
shortly  thus  : — Was  Coleman  justified  in  celebrating  Easter  on 
the  14th  moon  when  it  fell  on  Sunday  1 

In  Ceolfrid's  letter  to  Naiton,  which  was,  it  is  now 
generally  thought,  composed  by  Bede,  the  charge  formulated 
by  Eddius  is  repeated,  "  that  they  (the  Gauls)  kept  the  paschal 
feast  from  the  14th  to  the  20th  day  of  the  moon."     It  was  not 

"  De  Temp.  Ration.  Bede  arranged  a  P;ischal  Tablo  from  A.D.  532  to  1083 
(c.  63).     Ceolfrid's  letter  to  Nait m  is  ^jjeiifrally  admitted  to  be  Bible's. 

"  The  text  is  confused  or  iraporioct,  but  there  is  no  doubt  the  14th  moon  to 
the  20th  is  correot. 


THE  SECT  OF   THE   SCOTS.  373 

a  question  of  cycles,  except  in  so  far  as  this  use  was  disregarderl. 
"  I  forebore,"  he  adds,  "  to  .send  you  those  cycles  of  times  to 
come,  because  you  asked  only  to  be  instructed  concerniog  the 
principle  or  method  (ratio)  of  the  paschal  season,  and  declared 
that  you  had  abundance  of  those  Catholic  cycles  for  finding 
Easter."  We  may  add  that  Naiton  followed  the  Wilfrid 
precedent  and  expelled  the  Columban  monks  from  his  kingdom.^^ 
There  was  no  question  as  to  a  19  years  cycle  or  an  84  years 
cycle,  or  any  modification  of  them ;  and  there  was  no  question 
as  to  the  form  and  shape  of  the  correct  tonsure.  Wilfrid  knew 
perfectly  well  that  a  bishop  could  not  be  deposed  or  "eliminated" 
on  either  question.  St.  Chrysostom  had  declared  that  no  one 
was  ever  punished  or  called  to  account  for  not  keeping  Easter 
in  this  or  that  month.  "  Celebrating  Easter  with  the  Jews," 
as  an  unorthodox  Quartodeciman,  was,  of  course,  a  very 
difi'erent  matter.^^ 

The  king  presided  seemingly  over  this  august  tribunal,  and 
called  on  his  bishop  to  defend  his  use.  Coleman  said,  with 
undaunted  courage,  {intrepida  mente) : — 

Our  fathers  and  those  who  went  before  them,  inspired  by  the  Holy 
Spirit,  as  was  Columba,  ordained  {sanxerunt)  the  celebration  of  Easter 
on  the  14th  moon,  (being)  the  Lord's  Day,  following  the  example  of 
John  the  Apostle  and  Evangelist,  who  reclined  in  the  bosom  of  the 
Lord,  and  was  called  the  lover  of  the  Lord.  He  celebrated  Easter  on 
the  14th  moon,  and  we,  as  his  disciples,  Polycarp  and  others,  on  this  trust, 
celebrate.  Nor  can  we  dare,  nor  do  we  wish,  having  regard  for  our 
fathers,  to  change. 

Coleman  was  quite  right  in  saying  that  what  was  known 
as  the  Johannine  use  was  to  celebrate  on  the  14th  moon, 
being  Sunday,  as  well  as  on  week-days,  as  we  have  already 
stated. 

Agilbert,  a  bishop  from  over  sea,  then  directed  Wilfrid — 

^^  A.D.  717.— Expulsio  famili»  le  (lona)  trans  dorsum  Britanniae  a  Nectone  rege 
Tigernach.     Bede  V.,  c.  25. 

^^It  is  said  that  the  cycle  then  in  use  amongst  the  Scots  was  an  84  years  cycle 
or  an  84  years  (12)  cycle,  while  the  Dionysian  cycle  was  a  modification  of  the 
Metonic  19  years  cycle.  Our  readers,  if  curious,  will  find  the  matter  discus.sed  by 
no  means  clearly  by  Dr.  Maoarthy  in  the  Introduction  to  the  4th  vol.  of  the 
Annals  of  Ulster.  He  gives  a  list  (i.e.  21)  of  Easters  according  to  both  cycles  for 
21  years  before  664.  In  this  period  on  no  occasion  did  Easterday  fall  on  Sunday, 
the  21st  of  March.  He  makes  out  that  in  the  21  years  the  King's  Easter  was  13 
times  earlier,  and  twice  three  weeks  later,  than  the  Queen's.  Eddius  does  not 
refer  to  this,  which  makes  us  doubt  its  accuracy,  and  Bede  merely  says.  "  It  is 
said  to  have  happened  in  those  times  that  Easter  was  kept  twice  in  one  year,  and 
that  when  the  King,  having  ended  his  time  of  fasting,  kept  his  Easter,  the  Queen 
and  her  followers  were  still  fasting  and  keeping  Palm  Sunday  "  (III.  26). 


374  EARLY   IRISH   HISTORY. 

"  a  smooth-tongued  and  eloquent  speaker  " — to  state  in  his  own 
language  the  Roman  use.     He  said  with  humility : — 

This  matter  was  formerly  wondrouslj  investigated  by  our  fathers 
assembled  in  Nicaea,  318  in  number,  very  holy  and  wise  men,  and  they 
decreed,  amongst  other  judgments,  a  lunar  cycle  coming  round  again  in 
19  years.  And  they  never  showed  that  Eister  was  to  be  kept  on  the 
14th  moon.  This  is  the  use  (ratio)  of  the  Apostolical  See  and  of  almost 
the  whole  world.  And  thus  have  our  fathers  adjudged  after  many 
decrees  :  "  Whosoever  shall  reject  (condemnaverit)  any  of  these  let  him  be 
anathema." 

This  was  plainly  a  charge  that  Coleman  had  brought  himself 
within  the  anathema.  And  there  can  be  no  reasonable  doubt 
that  it  was  on  this  ground  he  was  compelled  to  leave  the  country 
with  his  supporters.  There  was,  as  we  have  stated,  no  such 
decision  given  at  the  Council  of  Nicsea.  The  language  of  the 
late  Dr.  Macarthy  in  his  preface  to  the  fourth  volume  of  the 
Annals  of  Ulster"  is  scarcely  too  strong  :  "  In  the  light  of  the 
history  of  the  Paschal  question  Wilfrid's  farrago  of  fictitious 
tradition  and  fabricated  testimony  {i.e.,  the  epistle  already 
mentioned)  can  hardly  fail  to  excite  a  smile.  But  it  proved  a 
grim  reality  for  the  vanquished.  How  all  the  Irish  were  got 
rid  of  on  this  pretext  is  beside  the  present  question."  The 
eminent  theologian,  King  Oswy,  then  put  a  conundrum  to  the 
judicial  and  canonical  tribunal.  Smiling  on  Wilfrid,  he  put 
the  question  to  all  (subridens  preshytero  interrogavit  omnes 
dicens) :  "  Tell  me  which  is  the  greater,  Columba  or  Peter  the 
Apostle,  in  the  Kingdom  of  Heaven  ? "  All  replied,  "  The 
Lord  decided  this,  who  said,  '  Thou  art  Peter,  etc.,  and  I  give 
you  the  keys  of  the  Kingdom  of  Heaven,  etc'  "  (the  well-known 
text).  Again,  the  King  said,  tersely,  "  (As)  he  is  the  door-keeper 
and  the  key-keeper  I  will  not  enter  the  lists  of  controversy 
against  him,  nor  assent  to  others  doing  so,  and  I  will  not  in  my 
lifetime  contradict  his  decisions."  This  notable  and  comical 
judgment  was,  as  Dr.  Macarthy  says,  a  grim  reality  for  the  Gael. 
After  the  expulsion  of  Coleman,  Wilfrid,  according  to  E Jdius, 
was  elected  Bishop  of  Northumbria,  i.e.,  of  Bernicia  and  Deira. 
Bede,  however,  says  that  Tuda,  a  correct  Southern  Irish  bishop, 
was  appointed,  and  it  seems  probable  that  he  was  only  in 
temporary  charge,  or  as  is  suggested  by  Plummer,  that 
the  arrangement  at  first  was  that  Tuda  was   to  be  Bishop 

"  Ann,.  Ulst.,  Vol.  IV.,  c.  67. 


THE  SECT  OF  THE  SOOTS.  3/ 


o 


of  Bcrnicia  and  Wilfrid  Bishop  of  Alclifrid's  sub-kingdom, 
Deira.  Tuda  died  of  the  plague  soon  after,  in  664,  and 
Wilfrid  then  became  bishop  of  the  whole  kingdom  from  the 
Humber  to  the  Clyde.  Eddius  tells  us  that  after  his  elec 
tion  he  at  once  requested  to  be  allowed  to  go  to  Gaul  to  be 
consecrated,  objecting  to  receive  consecration  from  the  British 
bishops,  "  none  of  whom  it  is  for  me  to  accuse,  though  I  know 
truly  that  they  are  Quartodecimans,  like  the  Britons  and  the 
Scots,  and  were  consecrated  by  those  whom  the  Apostolic  See 
receives  not  into  communion,  nor  those  who  share  their  opinions." 
There  was,  he  thus  states  most  incorrectly,  no  bishop  from 
whom  it  would  be  safe  to  receive  orders.  But  Deusdedit,  the 
Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  was  then  a  living  man,  so  too,  was 
Boniface — both  unobjectionable.  He  had  another  motive. 
The  King  granted  Wilfrid's  request,  got  ready  a  ship,  gave  him 
an  escort,  and  a  "  multitude  of  money,  and  sent  him  forward  in 
honourable  state."  He  was  received  in  France  with  triumphal 
honours.  No  less  than  twelve  bishops,  one  of  whom  was  Agil- 
bert,  assembled  for  his  consecration  at  Compiegne.  At  the 
ceremony  he  was  lifted  aloft  on  a  golden  chair  by  the  twelve 
bishops  and  carried  into  the  oratorium,  while  they  chanted 
hymns  and  canticles.  This  ceremony  took  place  probably  in 
664  or  the  beginning  of  635.  In  the  spring  of  666  he  sailed  for 
England  with  120  attendants.  He  was  driven  by  contrary 
winds  on  the  shore  of  the  little  kingdom  of  Sussex,  where  he  and 
his  party  were  assailed  by  the  natives,  who  were  still  hciithens. 
He  had  a  narrow  escape  with  his  life,  and  he  lost  six  of  his 
companions.  Thirteen  years  later  he  returned  to  this  people 
and  preached  the  gospel  to  them.  "  Some  were  baptised 
voluntarily,  and  some  coerced  by  command  of  the  King."^^ 
Wilfrid  liked  strong  measures.  No  compulsion  was  ever  used 
by  the  Gael.ia 

A  story  is  told  by  Eddius  which  illustrates  Wilfrid's 
overbearing  character  and  high-handed  methods.  After  he 
had  been  reinstated  in  the  See  of  York,  in  the  place  of  Chad, 
he,  on  one  occasion,  having  restored  an  infant  miraculously  to 

^*  Paganorum  utriusqno  sexus,  qixidam  voluntarie  alii  vero  coacti  regis 
iniperio  idolatriam  deserentes. — Eddius  c.  41. 

^®  Ah  uunc  proh  pudor !  divinam  lidem  sufifragia  terrena  commendant, 
inopsque  virtutis  suae  Christus,  dura  ambitio  nomine  suo  conciliatur,  arguitur. 

Deus  non  requirit  coactara  confessionera.  Simplicitate  quserendus  est 
voluntatis  probitate  letinendus.     Hilary  Contr.  Auxent.     II ,  4. 

I 


876  EARLY   IRISH   HISTORY. 

life  and  baptized  it,  enjoined  upon  the  mother  to  bring  the 
child  when  seven  years  old  to  him  for  the  service  of  God,  i.e.^ 
to  be  a  monk.  This  the  mother  promised  to  do.  But  at  the 
instance  of  her  wicked  husband,  who  saw  that  the  boy  was 
comely  and  was  unwilling  to  part  with  him,  she  disregarded 
her  promise  and  fled.  Thereupon  the  sergeant  (Prsefectus)  of 
the  Bishop  made  search  for  the  boy,  found  him  in  hiding 
among  the  Britons,  forcibly  carried  him  off  and  brought  him 
to  the  Bishop.  The  boy,  who  was  called  the  "son  of  the 
Bishop,''  lived  as  a  monk  at  Ripou,  where  he  died  of  the 
plague.-** 

Wilfrid's  prolonged  absence  from  his  extensive  diocese 
seemed  unaccountable  to  the  Northumbrians,  They  prevailed 
on  Oswy  to  nominate  Chad,  Abbot  of  Lastingham,  to  be 
Bishop.  He  was  one  of  the  twelve  boys  selected  by  Aidan,  of 
whom  we  have  already  made  mention,  and  was  afterwards  brought 
up  in  Ireland  under  monastic  discipline.  "  A  man  of  prayer, 
study,  humility,  purity  and  voluntary  poverty,"  he  was 
consecrated  by  Wini,  Bishop  of  Winchester,  with  the 
assistance  of  two  British  bishops,  and  then  took  possession  of 
his  See,  which  comprised  all  Northumbria.  Wilfrid,  on  arriving  in 
the  north,  acquiesced  for  some  time,  and  retired  to  his 
monastery  at  Ripon.  Theodore  made  his  entry  as  Archbishop 
into  Canterbury  on  May  27th,  669,  and  soon  after  made  a 
visitation  of  the  north.  During  this  be  inquired  into  the 
validity  of  Chad's  election.  "  If  you  are  pursuaded,"  said 
Chad,  "  that  I  received  the  episcopate  in  an  irregular  manner, 
I  willingly  retire  from  the  office,  for  I  never  thought  myself 
worthy  of  it."  He  submitted  at  once  to  the  jurisdiction  and 
judgment  of  Canterbury,  as  Coleman  would  have  done 
undoubtedly  had  that  jurisdiction  been  appealed  to.  Wilfrid 
then  took  possession  of  Northumbria,  and  soon  afterwards 
Theodore  procured  for  Chad  the  bishopric  of  the  Mercians. 
Eddius  tells  us  that  Chad  saw  and  admitted  the  error  of  his 
ordination  by  the  Quartodecimans  to  the  bishopric  of 
another,  and  that  the  bishops  "  then  ordained  him  fully 
through   all  the    ecclesiastical    orders,''  ^^    to    the    Mercian 

'0  Eddius  c.  18. 

^1  Per  omnes  gradus  ecclesiasticos  ad  sedem  predictam  (t.«.,  Licitfelda, 
Lichfield)  plene  eum  ordmaverunt. — Edd.  c.  iv.  Theodore's  Penitential  enjoins 
that  "  one  who  has  been  ordained  by  heretics  shall  be  ordained  over  again  if 
Winielesa." 


THE   SECT   OF  THE   SCOTS.  377 

bishopric  of  Lichfield  (669).  This  leaves  no  room  for  doubt 
that  Eddius,  Wilfrid,  and  the  monks  of  Ripon  regarded  the 
orders  of  Chad  as  invalid. 

Wilfrid  ruled  the  diocese  of  Norbhumbria  from  669  to  678. 
In  the  latter  year  Theodore  divided  this  diocese  and  consecrated 
three  new  bishops  for  the  new  dioceses.  Wilfrid  resisted  and 
appealed  to  Rome.  The  king,  Egfrid,  who  had  suceeded  Oswy  in 
672,  and — more  important  still — the  reining  queen,  Ermemburga, 
his  second  wife,  were  bitterly  hostile  to  him.  Etheldreda,  Egfrid's 
first  wife,  was  the  daughter  of  Anna,  King  of  East  Anglia,  and 
had  been  married  first  to  Tonbert,  a  chieftain  in  Cambridge- 
shire, who  had  died  three  years  after  the  marriage.  She  was 
then  married  to  Egfrid,  in  whose  house  she  lived  for  twelve 
years.  At  the  end  of  this  period  she  expressed  a  great  desire 
to  become  a  nun,  and  alleged  that  she  had  preserved  her 
virginity  in  both  wedlocks.  At  her  marriage  with  Egfrid,  he 
gave  her  as  a  wedding  gift  a  territory  at  Hexham,  twelve  miles 
long  and  six  miles  broad,  good  land,  well  situated,22  and 
Wilfrid  stated  to  Bede  that  Egfrid  offered  him  large  sums  if  he 
would  induce  her  to  live  with  him  as  a  real,  not  a  nominal, 
wife.  Wilfrid,  however,  took  sides  with  the  lady.  She 
received  the  veil  from  him,  and  he  received  from  her  the 
territory  at  Hexham.  Egfrid  then,  during  her  lifetime, 
married  Ermemburga,  the  sister-in-law  of  Centwine,  King  of 
Essex. 

"  At  the  instigation  of  the  devil,  who  armed  himself,  as 
usual,  with  the  fragile  sex,"  Eddius  tells  us,  "  like  another 
Jezabel,  she  (Ermemburga)  poisoned  the  king's  mind  against 
Wilfrid,  dilating  on  his  secular  glory,  his  wealth,  the  multitude 
of  his  monasteries,  the  magnitude  of  his  edifices,  the  innumer- 
able army  of  his  retainers,  equipped  with  regal  arms  and 
attire.  *  Your  whole  kingdom  is  his  bishopric,'  she  added, 
and  both  induced  Theodore,  by  gifts,  to  join  them  in  robbing 
Wilfrid  of  his  property  like  footpads,  and  deprived  him  of  his 
bishopric."     So  far  Eddius. 

Allowing  for  the  exaggerations  of  an  angry  woman,  it  is 
still  difiicult  to  reconcile  Wilfrid's  position  with  the  Benedictine 

^  Forty  years  after  TTeavenfield  (635),  Etheldreda  gave  the  land  near  Hexham, 
twelve  miles  long  and  nearly  six  in  breadth,  to  Wilfrid.  It  belonged  to  the  queen, 
as  part  of  her  dower,  as  it  was  part  of  the  private  property  of  the  royal  family  of 
Jxorthunibria. — Raine,  Priory  of  Htxham,  I.,  14. 


278  EARLY  mrsTi  history. 

vow  of  individual   poverty— if  he  ever  took  it,  or   was   not 
relieved  of  it,  which  is  not  stated. 

This  was  Wilfrid's  first  expulsion.  A  second  followed  in 
aftertime.  On  both  occasions  Church  and  State  in  Britain 
were  united  against  him,  but  in  Rome  his  appeals  were,  on  the 
whole,  successful. 

He  was  not,  however,  able  to  secure  at  home  the  fruits  of 
his  triumph,  and  after  a  term  of  imprisonment  and  many  vicis- 
situdes, he  was  finally,  at  the  Synod  on  the  Widd,  near  Ripon 
(705),  allowed  to  hold  the  small  see  of  Hexham  and  the  abbey 
of  Ripon.  Four  years  later  he  was  seized  with  a  severe  illness, 
and  consternation  fell  on  the  Benedictine  monks  lest  he  should 
die  before  he  had  disposed  of  his  monasteries  and  of  his  worldly 
goods.  They  assembled  in  hot  haste,  and  much  prayer  was 
offered  that  he  should  be  spared  "  until  he  had  arranged  for 
their  future  ;  uncZer  abbots  to  be  selected  by  himself  (sub 
prsepositis  a  se  selectis)."  He  recovered,  and  this  was  done,  and 
he  made  his  will.  He  designated  his  relative,  Tathbert,  to  be 
abbot  of  Ripon,  He  invited  two  abbots  and  eight  brethren  to 
be  present,  and  then  ordered  the  custodian  of  his  treasury 
(gazophylacem)  to  open  his  treasure-chest,  and  to  bring  forth 
all  the  gold  and  silver  and  precious  stones  and  place  them  in 
view  of  all.  He  divided  them  into  four  parts.  One,  the  best, 
he  gave  to  the  churches  of  St.  Mary  and  St.  Paul  at  Rome ; 
the  second  to  the  poor;  the  third  he  divided  between  the  abbots 
of  Ripon  and  Hexham,  that  by  gifts  they  might  secure  (im- 
petrare  t)  the  friendship  of  kings  and  bishops  ;  and  the  fourth 
he  gave  to  those  friends  who  had  suffered  in  exile  with  him, 
and  to  whom  he  had  not  already  given  estates  (terras  praediorum). 
He  died  in  709  A.D.,  and  was  buried  in  the  church  of  St.  Peter 
at  Ripon.  His  epitaph  records  amongst  his  merits  that,  "  he 
corrected  the  celebration  time  of  the  Paschal  festival  according 
to  the  correct  dogma  of  the  Catholic  canon  which  the  Fathers 
ordained."  22  This  clearly  refers  to  the  supposed  canon  of 
Nicsea  which  Wilfrid  relied  on  at  Whitby.  It  is  noteworthy 
that  Bede  does  not  mention  this  canon  in  the  letter  of  Ceolfrid 
to  Naiton,  though  he  was  well  acquainted  with  the  works  of 
Dionysius  Exiguus.      He  does  represent  Wilfrid  at  Whitby  as 


-^  Paschalis  qui  etiara  sollemnia  tempora  cursus  Catholici  ad  justnm  corr^xit 
»logma  cauonis  quein  statuere  patres  i.e.  the  Nicaan  fathers. — H.  E.,  V.,  c.  19. 


THE   SECT   OF   THE   SCOTS.  379 

referring  to  "  decrees  of  the  Apostolic  See  and  of  the  Universal 
Church,"  in  a  vague  manner.     (11. ,  c.  25). 

The  evils  following  from  this  state  of  religious  anarchy  were 
such  as  might  be  expected.  As  wo  pass  from  the  pure  and 
bracing  spirituality  of  the  Columban  monks  we  quickly  perceive 
that  we  are  in  an  atmosphere  laden  with  the  languorous  odours 
of  wealth  and  worldliness,  of  ambitious  rivalries  and  moral 
disorder,  Bede's  letter  to  Egbert,  Archbishop  of  York,  written 
towards  the  close  of  his  life  (734),  presents  a  dark  picture  of 
degeneracy.     He  writes  :— 

It  ia  commonly  reported  that  certain  bishop  <  seek  those  -who  are 
given  up  to  revelling,  etc.,  drunkenness,  etc.,  and  the  allurements  of 
loose  living.  There  are  many  villages  and  cells  situated  in  accessible 
mountains  never  visited  by  the  bishops  to  whom  they  pay  tribute,  and 
without  any  teacher  whatsoever.  "When  a  bishop,  stimulated  by  the 
love  of  money,  has  taken  upon  himself  the  prelacy  over  a  greater 
number  of  people  than  he  can  visit  in  a  year,  he  has  the  title,  but  not 
the  functions,  of  a  bishop.  More  bishops  are  necessary.  To  maintain 
such,  let  the  numberless  places  which  have  the  name  of  monasteries, 
but  nothing  of  the  monastic  mode  of  life,  be  transferred  from  the 
purposes  of  luxury  to  those  of  chastity,  from  vanity  to  temperance,  from 
excess  and  gluttony  to  continence  and  piety  of  heart.  Again,  laics 
found  monasteries  and  fill  the  cells  with  expelled  monks,  and  found 
nunneries  and  place  their  wives  over  them,  and  get  laymen  tonsured 
and  made  abbots,  and  in  both  these  the  greatest  disorder  prevails.  So 
man}'  have  got  into  their  power  places  of  this  kind  under  the  name  of 
monasteries  that  there  is  no  place  for  the  sons  of  the  nobility  or  veteran 
soldiers  to  occupy,  and  accordingly,  when  they  arrive  at  the  years  of 
puberty  they  live  in  idleness  and  unmarried,  without  any  purpose  of 
continence,  and  give  themselves  up  to  luxury  and  fornication,  and  do 
not  even  abstain  from  the  virgins  consecrated  to  God. 

Quid  plura  f 

Coleman  was  happily  spared  the  anguish  of  witnessing  the 
blight  which  had  fallen  on  the  vineyard  in  which  durins  thirty 
years  the  sons  of  Columba  had  been  gathering  a  rich  vintage 
for  the  Lord.  From  Whitby  he  went  to  Holy  Isle  and 
collected  his  treasures  to  take  back  with  him  to  the  Mother 
Church  at  Zona.  These  consisted  of  the  bones  of  his  predecessor, 
the  sainted  Aidan.  Part  he  left  with  the  brethren  there  at 
their  earnest  entreaty,  part  he  put  in  his  wallet,  and  with  his 
bundle  on  his  shoulder,  like  many  an  evicted  Gael  since  his  day, 
he  tramped  across  Alba  with  a  sore  heart,  not,  however,  bewail- 
ing his  own  fate,  but  grieving  that  the  flock  which  he  had  loved, 
and  for  which  he  would  gladly  have  laid  down  his  life,  was 
now  left  without  its  shepherd,  and  that  the  fold  was  left 
unguarded  for  the  intruder  to  leap  into  it. 


[380    ] 


CHAPTER  XXVI. 

THE    EMERALD    RIXG. 

AT  the  beginning  of  the  eleventh  century  two  "world  policies" 
met  in  conflict  which,  with  some  exaggeration  of  the 
outlines  to  make  the  objects  clearer,  may  be  roughly  described 
as  follows  : — The  first  was  an  attempt  on  the  part  of  the 
Emperor,  in  addition  to  his  temporal  power  as  head  of  the 
Holy  Roman  Empire,  to  control  the  exercise  of  the  spiritual 
power  and  make  the  Pope  an  adjunct  of  the  German  Chancery, 
whose  principal  function  was  to  be  the  excommunication  of 
the  Emperor's  foreign  and  domestic  enemies.  The  second 
was  a  claim  on  the  part  of  the  Pope,  in  addition  to  his  spiritual 
power,  to  be  the  temporal  owner  of  the  Western  Empire  from 
the  Adriatic  to  St.  George's  Channel,  by  virtue  of  a  donation 
from  Constantino  the  Great  to  Pope  Sylvester.  This  donation 
is  now  universally  admitted  to  be  a  forgery  attributable  to  the 
first  half  of  the  eighth  century,  but  was  universally 
accepted  by  the  orthodox,  even  by  jurists,  as  genuine,  until  it 
was  proved  to  be  spurious  by  the  criticism  of  Laurentius  Valla 
and  others  in  the  fifteenth  century.  It  is  a  long,  rambling 
document.  It  recites  that  Constantine  was  afflicted  with 
leprosy,  and  that  the  physicians  having  failed  to  cure  him,  the 
priests  of  the  Capitol  came  to  him,  saying,  "  That  a  font  should 
be  made  on  the  Capitol  and  that  he  should  fill  it  with  the 
blood  of  innocent  infants,  and  that  if  he  bathed  in  it  while  it 
was  warm  he  might  be  cleansed ;  that  when  very  many  innocent 
children  had  been  brought  together,  and  the  priests  wished 
them  to  be  slaughtered,  he,  perceiving  the  tears  of  the  motheis, 
abhorred  the  deed  and  restored  the  children  to  their  mothers, 
with  gifts."  The  following  night  the  Apostles,  St.  Peter  and 
St.  Paul,  appeared  to  him  and  told  him  to  go  and  receive  the 
teaching  of  Pope  Sylvester,  and  that  in  the  waters  of  baptism 
he  would  be  cleansed  of  his  leprosy.  This  he  did  and  was 
cleansed,  and  then  perceiving,  "  that  where  the  supremacy 
of  priests  and  the  head  of  the  Christian  religion  had  been 


THE  EMERALD  RING.  381 

established  by  a  Heavenly  Father  it  was  not  just  that  there 

an  earthly  raler   should   have  jurisdiction,"    he   resolved  to 

transfer  his  empire  and  the  seat  of  his  power  to  the  Eist,  and 

make  Byzantium  his  capital.  He  then  granted  to  Pope  Sylvester, 

and  his  successors,  his  palace  (i.e.,  the  Lateran),  "  the  city  of 

Kome  and  all  the  provinces,  districts,  and  cities  of  Italy,  and 

of  the  Western  regions.     And  he  conjured  all  the  people  in  the 

whole  world  then,  and  in  all  times  previously,  subject  to  his 

rule,  under  pain  of  damnation,  not  to  oppose  or  disregard  this 

grant  in  any  way." 

In  an  earlier  part  of  the   donation  we   find  the  famous 

"Islands   Clause,"   which  we  give  textually,  omitting  some 

particulars  : — 

Meanwhile ;  we  wish  all  the  people  of  all  the  races  and  nations 
throughout  tlie  whole  world  to  know  that  we  have  constructed  within 
our  Lateran  Palace  to  the  same  Saviour,  our  Lord  God,  Jesu^  Christ,  a 
Church,  with  a  baptistery,  from  the  foundations.  And  know  that  we 
have  carried  on  our  shoulders,  from  its  foundation,  twelve  baskets 
weighted  with  earth,  according  to  the  number  of  the  twelve  apostles. 
We  have  also  constructed  the  churches  of  SS.  Peter  and  Paul,  chief  of 
the  apostles.  .  .  .  And  on  these  churches,  for  the  providing  of 
lights,  we  have  conferred  estates  (from  our)  possessions,  and  have 
enriched  them  with  many  things,  and  bestowed  upon  them  our  bounty, 
by  the  solemnities  of  our  impeiial  decrees,  as  well  in  the  east  as  in  the 
west,  and  even  in  the  northern  and  southern  region,  to  wit,  in  India, 
Greece,  Asia,  Thrace,  Africa,  and  Italy,  and  in  divers  islands,  on  this 
condition,  that  all  should  be  administered  by  our  most  blessed  father. 
Pope  Sylvester,  and  his  successors.^ 

It  is  to  the  "  Islands  Clause  "  that  John  of  Salisbury  mani- 
festly refers  in  the  extracts  which  we  shall  give,  after  stating 
a  few  facts  about  him.  He  was  born  near  Salisbury,  made  his 
studies  in  France  for  ten  or  twelve  years,  and  was  present  at 
the  Coundl  held  at  Rheims  by  Eugenius  III.  in  the  spring  of 

^  Interea  nosse  volumus  omnem  populum  universarum  gentium  per  totam 
orbem  terrarura  construxisse  nos  intra  palatium  nostrum  Lateranense  eidem 
Salvatori  nostro  Domino  Deo  Jesu  Christo  ecclesiam  de  fundamentis,  secundum 
numerum  duodecim  apostolorum  cofinos  terra*  onustos  propriis  asportasse  humeris 
....  Construximus  etiam  ecclesias  beatorum  Petri  et  Pauli  principum  aposto- 
lorum ....  quibus  pro  concinnatione  luminariorum  possessionum  prtedia 
contulimus,  et  rebus  diversis  eas  ditavimus  et  per  nostras  jussionura  imperialiuni 
saeras,  tam  in  oriente  quam  in  occidente  vel  etiam  in  septentrionali  et  meridiana 
plaga,  videlicet  in  India,  Graseia,  Asia,  Thracia,  Africa,  et  Italia,  vel  diversis 
insulis,  nostram  largitatem  eis  concessimus,  ea  prorsus  ratione  ut  per  manus 
beatissimi  patris  nostri  Sylvestri  pontificis  successorumque  ejus  omnia  disponautur. 
— Condituinm  Constantiui.     Zeujier  (Ed.  1888),  p.  55. 

The  old  home  of  the  Laterani  had  passed  to  Fausta,  the  daughter  of  the 
Emperor  Maximian,  and  she  brouglit  it  to  Constantine  on  her  marriage  witli  him, 
A.D.  .307.  Constantine  gave  it  to  Melchiades,  and  afterwards  confirmed  the  grant 
to  Sylvester,  who  resided  there.  Withiu  the  precincts  Constantine  and  Sylvester 
built  the  vast  basilica  known  as  the  "  Lateran,"  and  dedicated  to  the  Saviour. 


382  EARLY   IRISH   HISTORY, 

114S.     It  would  appear  that  after  the   Council  was  over  he 
attended  the  Pope  to  Brescia  and  then  went  on  to  Boine.     He 
returned  to  England  in  1150  and  was  introduced  to  Archbishop 
Theobald  by  St.  Bernard,  the  Hildebrand  of  the  12th  century. 
St.  Bernard  wrote  a  strongly- worded    letter,   recommendincr 
him  "  a  friend  of  mine  and  of  my  friends  "  to  the  Archbishop, 
and  requesting  that  provision  should  be  made  for  him  decently, 
nay  honourably  and  promptly,  as  he  did  not  know  where  to 
turn  ;  for  he  was  of  good  report,  which  he  had  deserved  by  his 
life   and   learning.     "  This  I  know,  not  from  men  who  use 
words  lightly,  but  from  my  own  (spiritual)  sons  who  are  with 
me,  and  whose  words  I  believe  as  I   would  my  own  eyes."  ^ 
The  Archbishop,  who,  owing  to  the  long  absences  of  Henry  II. 
in  France,  had  a  principal  share  in  the  government  of  the 
country,  took  him  into  his  service  and  he  was  employed  in 
important  business  abroad.     He  tells  us  that  between  1150  and 
1159  he  crossed  the  Alps  ten  times.     He  was  with  Eugenius 
III.  at  Ferrentino  from  November,  1150,  to  J  uno,  1151,  and  again 
in  May,  1152;  and  between  November,  1155,  and  June,  1156, 
he    spent    three    months    with   Adrian    IV.    at    Benevento.^ 
Adrian  died  on  September  1st,  1159,  at  Anagni,  and  the  news 
of  his  death  reached  John  shortly  afterwards  and  caused  him 
poignant  grief.     "  Our  lord,  Pope  Adrian,  is  dead,"  he  wrote 
in  the  Metalogicus — a  work  on  which  he  was  then  engaged. 
"  His  death  will  be  wept  by  all  good  men,  but  by  none  more 
than  by  myself.     Omnibus  ille  bonis  flebilis  occidit,  aed  nulli 
flebilior  quam  mihi.     He  had  his  mother  and  uterine  brother, 
bat  he  loved  me  with  closer  affection,  for  he  confessed  in  public 
and  in  private  that  he  loved  me  above  all  mortals.     Such  was 
his  opinion  of  me  that   when  opportunity  offered  he   used  to 
delight  in  laying  bare  to  me  his  inmost  thoughts,  and  after  he 
became  Roman  Pontiff  he  was  glad  to  have  me  as  a  guest  at 
his  own  table,  and  would  have  me,  against  my  wish,  to  drink 
out  of  the  same  cup  and  eat  out  of  the  same  dish.     At  my 
solicitation  he  gave  and  granted  Hibernia  to  Henry  II.,  the 
illustrious  King  of  England,  to  hold  by  hereditary  right,  as  his 
letter  which  (is  extant)  to  this  day  testifies.     For  all  islands,  of 
ancient  right,  according  to  the  donation  of  Constantine,  are 

9  St.  Bernard,  Letter  3G1.     Migae,  vol.  182,  p.  502.    Theobald  had  been  abbot 
of  Bee. 

"  Jaffe  IL,  113, 120. 


THE   EMERALD   RING.  "3^3 

said  to  belong  to  the  Roman  Church,  which  he  founded  and 
endowed  (i.e.,  St.  Peter's  and  St.  Paul's).  He  sent  also  by  me 
a  rint^  of  gold,  with  the  best  of  emeralds  set  therein,  wherewith 
the  investiture  might  be  made  for  his  governorship  of  Ireland, 
and  that  same  ring  was  ordered  to  be,  and  is  still,  in  the  public 
treasury  of  the  king.  If  I  were  to  state  in  detail  its  varied 
excellence,  this  one  topic  would  supply  matter  for  a  volume."  * 
It  will  be  observed  that  he  says  "  at  ray  solicitation,"  not  at 
the  request  of  Henry  II.,  and  that  he  is  guarded  in  his  reference 
to  the  Donation.  He  uses  the  words :  "  are  said  to  belong  " 
(dicuntur).  The  genuineness  of  the  Donation  was  openly 
challenged  in  Rome  at  this  time  by  the  republicans  or  revolu- 
tionaries there.  Wetzel  wrote  to  the  Emperor  that  the  Donation 
was  a  lie,  a  heretical  fable,  and  so  found  out  that  common 
workmen  and  old  women  '*'  shut  up  even  the  most  learned  on  the 
point."*  The  confidence  of  the  orthodox  in  the  genuineness  oi 
the  Donation  was,  however,  probably  increased  on  finding  it 
assailed  by  men  who  called  them  heretics.  But  it  is  difficult  to 
understand  how  anybody  could  suppose  that  the  Donation, 
even  if  it  was  genuine,  conveyed  the  sovereignty  of  any  island, 
when  it  deals  explicitly  with  estates  and  things  in  the  islands, 
and  not  with  the  islands  themselves ;  or  how,  in  the  case  of 
Ireland,  Constantine  could  give  away  what  he  never  possessed. 
However,  Urban  II.,  in  a  Bull,  dated  June  3rd,  1091,  asserted 
that  by  the  Privilegium  of  Constantine  "  all  the  islands  in 
the  Wed  were  bestowed  on  St.  Peter  and  his  successors  in 
proprietary  right,  especially  those  situate  about  Italy. "^ 

*  Ad  proces  meaa  illustri  Rogi  Anglorum  Henrico  Secundo  concessit  et  dedifc 
{i.e.,  Adrianua)  Iliberniam  jure  herwlitario  possideudara,  sicut  littera;  ipsius 
testautur  in  hodiernum  diem.  Nam  omnes  insula;  de  juie  antique  ex  donatione 
Constantini  qui  earn  fundavit  ot  dotavit  dicuntui'  ad  Romanani  eeclesiam  pertincru. 
Annulum  quoque  per  me  transmisit  aureum  sniaragdo  optimo  decoratum  quo 
tieret  investitura  juris  in  gerenda  Hibernia,  idemque  adhuc  annulus  in  curiali 
archio  publico  custodiri  jussus  est.— Giles,  Vol.  V.,  205  ;  Lib.  IV.,  c.  42.  The 
Metalogicua  was  coniplete<l  in  ll.o9,  or  in  1160  at  the  latest,  and  the  passage  cited 
is  found  in  all  tho  MSS.  In  1159  Henry  and  Louis  VII.  were  engaged  in  hostilities 
and  opposing  each  other  near  Toulouse,  to  which  Henry  laid  claim.  There  is  a 
note  by  Pagi,  which  indicates  that  there  was  some  estrangement  between  Adrian 
and  his  family.  Giraldus,  who  wrote  in  1174  or  1175,  says  :— "  The  same  Popo 
(i.e.,  Adrian  IV.)  sent  by  him  (i.e.,  John  of  Salisbury)  to  the  King  of  England  a 
gold  ring  in  symbol  of  investiture  (inve^iiturce  in  signum),  which  was  at  onco 
deposited  in  the  treasury  at  Winchester." —  Expug.  Hih.,  Rolls  series,  vol.  v.,  314. 

*  "  Mendacium  illud  et  fabula  herctica  ita  detecta  est  ut  mercenarii  et  mulier- 
culffi  etiam  docti.ssimos  super  hoc  concludunt." — Wetzel  to  Frederic  Barbarosaa 
(1152^  Ep.  384.     Martene  II. 

*  "Constantini  privileglo  in  jus  propriiua  beato  Pctro  ejusque  successoribus 
occidentales  omnes  insuhTC  donatie  sunt  maxiiue  qu£e  circa  Italiaj  oram  habeutur." 
— Rocchi  Firri,  Lipariemli  Eccl.  Notitia,  vol.  viii.  Lib.  3. 


SS4  EARLY   IRISH   HISTORY. 

Assuming  that  the  ownership  of  Ireland  was,  as,  no  doubt 
he  believed,  in  the  Pope's  gift,  the  investiture  by  the  delivery 
of  the  symbolical  ring  was  sufficient.  Under  the  feudal  system 
the  ownership  of  land  was  transferred  by  the  visible  transfer  of 
portion  of  the  soil  (by  "  rod  and  twig,")  or  some  symbolical 
form  of  delivery.  This  constituted  a  solemn  investiture  which, 
while  the  art  of  writing  was  rare,  supplied  the  only  evidence  of 
the  transaction,  and  which,  though  written  evidence  was  after- 
wards required  by  the  statute,  still  continued  to  be  the  essence 
of  the  transfer.  This  was  also  the  law  in  Italy  at  this  period, 
where  the  feudal  system  prevailed.  Evidence  to  this  effect  is 
furnished  by  the  Gartula  of  the  Countess  Matilda  of  Tuscany 
(1102)  which  is  commonly,  but  quite  erroneously,  referred  to  as 
a  "  will."  After  recitinof  a  donation  for  the  relief  of  her  soul 
and  the  souls  of  her  parents,  made  in  the  Church  of  the  Holy 
Cross  at  the  Lateran  to  the  Church  of  Rome  by  the  hand  of 
Gregory  VII,,  which  donation  was  not  forthcoming,  it  continues  : 
''  To  the  same  Church  of  Rome,  by  the  hands  of  Barnardus, 
Cardinal  Legate,  all  my  possessions,  which  I  now  have,  or  may 
hereafter  own,  on  either  side  of  the  mountain  (^Apenninesy  I 
give  and  confirm  from  this  day  (15  Kal.  Dec.  1102)  by  this 
Cartula,  and,  besides,  by  a  small  ssvord,  a  knotty  rod,  a  glove, 
a  basket  of  earth,  and  the  branch  of  a  tree,^  and  I  have  evicted 
myself,  absconded,  and  gone  away  from  there,  and  left  the  same 
to  be  held  on  behalf  of  the  Church.  I  have  lifted  the  parch- 
ment and  the  inkhorn  from  off  the  ground,  and  delivered  the 
pages  to  the  notary,  Guido,  and  requested  him  to  engross  it." 
The  names  of  witnesses  follow,  and  Guido  adds :  "  I,  after 
deliver^',  engrossed  the  Cartula,  and  delivered  it  (to  the 
Cardinal  Legate)."     This  was  at  Canossa,  in  1102. 

There  were  also  many  other  forms  of  investiture,  as  by  a 
ring,  a  standard,  a  flag,  a  sword,  etc.,  as  may  be  seen  in 
Du  Cange,  under  Investitura.  John  of  Salisbury  expressly 
states  that  in  the  case  of  Henry  II.  the  investiture  was  to  be 

"  This  is  an  important  statement.  The  Cartula  dealt  with  vast  possessions, 
covering,  according  to  some,  an  area  as  large  as  Ireland.  The  document  was, 
no  doubt,  destroj'ed  during  the  anarchy  and  bloodshed  that  reia;ned  in  Rome 
M-ith  periodical  recurrence,  during  the  11th  and  l'2th  centuries.  In  this  way  also 
the  scripts  relating  to  Ireland  were,  we  may  assume,  destroyed.  Theiner  found 
in  the  Papal  archives  none  earlier  than  the  13th  century. 

*  "Insuper  per  cultellum,  festucara  nodatam,  guantonem,  guvassonera  terra? 
atque  ramum  artioris,  et  me  exinde  foras  expuli,  guarpivi  et  absentem  mo  feci,  pt 
a  parte  ecclesi;e  haoendum  roliiiui." — Cartula  Mathilda;.  Monmn.  Dom.  Pontif. 
Cennius  II„  2c>S. 


THE  EMERALD   RINQ.  385 

made  by  the  delivery  of  a  ring,  and  that  the  ring  was  accepted 
by  Henry  and  deposited  in  the  public  treasury. 

The  letter  referred  to  by  John  of  Salisbury  was  a  letter  of 
investiture,  and  not,  as  is  maintained  by  many  authors,  the 
Privilegium  Laudabiliter .  The  form  used  with  the  Normans  of 
Italy  commenced  thus:— "I  Gregory,  Pope,  invest  you,  Duke 
Robert,  with  the  land,"  etc.^  With  this  went  the  oath  of  fealty 
(fidelitatem  observabo),  which  included  a  promise  not  to 
divulge  the  Pope's  secrets  to  his  damage,  and  to  aid  and 
defend  the  papacy  and  its  temporal  possessions  to  the  utmost 
of  his  power  (pro  posse  meo)  against  all  men.  There  was  also 
a  promise  to  pay  a  yearly  rent,  which  in  the  case  of  Robert  was 
fixed  at  12  denarii  of  the  money  of  Pavia,  for  every  yoke  of 
oxen.^"* 

Henry's  title  was  thus  complete  on  the  delivery  and  accept- 
ance of  the  ring  and  the  letter.  The  latter  contained,  no 
doubt,  a  suitable  reference  to  the  Peter's  pence  which  were  to 
be  paid  when  Dominus  Henry  entered  into  possession.  As  we 
shall  see,  the  confirmation  by  Alexander  III.  explicitly  says  so. 

What  was  the  motive  of  Adrian's  Donation  ?  The  sugges- 
tion that  Nicholas  Breakspear  (Adrian  IV.)  made  it  because  he 
was  an  Englishman,  may  be  dismissed  at  once.  Though  born 
in  England,  he  was  probably  a  Northman  by  descent.  He  is 
said  "  to  have  fetcht  his  name  from  Breaspere,  a  place  in 
Middlesex."  He  was  selected  to  be  Papal  Legate  to  Norway 
and  Sweden,  and  he  wrote  a  Catechism  for  them  in  the 
vernacular,  all  which  points  to  a  northern  parentage,  and 
an  early  acquaintance  with  the  language.  But  whether  Anglo- 
Saxon  or  Dane,  he  had  certainly  no  love  for  the  Francii,  who 
since  the  fatal  day  of  Hastings  had  tyrannized  over  the 
conquered  with  a  cruelty  and  oppression  far  worse  than  was 
known  in  Ireland  until  the  confiscations  of  Mary,  and  the 
exterminations  of  Elizabeth. 

John  of  Salisbury  and  his  friends  wished,  no  doubt,  to 
conciliate  the  friendship  of  Henry  by  the  Donation ;  but,  as  we 
shall  show  in  the  proper  place,  Henry  was  not  then  in  a 
position  to  undertake  a  great  military  expedition  like  the 
invasion  of  Ireland,  and  there  is  no  reliable  evidence  that  he 
solicited  a  license  for  that  purpose  from  Pope  Adrian. 

•  '*  Ego,  Gregorkis,  Papa,  investi "» te,  Roberte  dux,  de  terra,"  etc. 
"  Jaffe,  Rer  Germ.  II.  426. 

2C 


386  EARLY   IPwISH   HISTORY. 

The  motive  for  the  gift  must  be  sought  in  the  Welt politik 
of  the  Roman  curia.  It  was  part  of  the  policy  of  Hildebrand 
to  raise  in  the  West  of  Europe  a  power  to  balance  that  of  the 
German  Emperors  ;  and  this,  not  from  worldly  ambition  to 
exalt  the  temporal  greatness  of  the  Church,  but  to  secure  its 
spiritual  independence.  In  furtherance  of  this  policy  he  allied 
himself  with  the  Normans  of  Italy,  and  took  William,  Duke  of 
Normandy,  under  his  patronage.  He,  too,  received  a  gold  ring 
and  a  banner  from  the  Pope,^^  and  claimed  to  have  a  mission 
for  reforming  the  Church.  William  and  Lanfranc  represented 
the  invasion  of  England  as  designed  for  the  spiritual  welfare  of 
the  country.^^ 

"  A  land,"  writes  Freeman,  "  which  had  not  lost  its  ancient 
character  of  the  Isle  of  Saints  (England) ;  a  land  which  had  so 
lately  boasted  of  a  King  like  Edward,  and  an  Earl  like  Leofric ; 
a  land  which  was  still  illustrated  by  the  virtues  of  the  holy 
Wulfstan ;  a  land  whose  earls  and  bishops,  and  sons  of  every 
degree,  pressed  year  after  year  to  offer  at  the  tombs  of  the 
apostles  ;  a  land  like  this  was  branded  as  a  land  which  needed 
to  be  gathered  again  into  the  true  fold."  i' 

It  is  related  in  the  Chronicles  of  St.  Alban's  that  after  the 
Conquest  William  asked  of  the  monks  how  it  was  that  it  was 
effected  so  easily.  They  made  answer  that  it  was  owing  to 
the  support  of  the  monasteries — that  these  all  declared  for  him. 
William,  however,  left  Hildebrand  in  the  lurch.  He  would 
give  nothing  but  the  old-time  contribution  of  Peter's  Pence. 

When  Hubert,  the  Pope's  Legate,  came  to  England,  and 
demanded  that  William  should  take  the  oath  of  fealty,  William 
refused,  without,  however,  denying  the  overlordship  claimed 
by  the  Pontiff.  He  affirmed  that  he  had  not  promised  to,  and 
would  not,  take  the  oath.^*  On  another  occasion  Hildebrand 

*^  Un  gonfannon  e  un  and 
Mult  precios  e  riche  et  bel. — 

Roman  de  Rose,  11452. 

*^  The  Tictors  of  Civitella,  Richard  of  Aversa  and  Robert  Guiscard,  both 
brave,  faithless,  unscrupulous,  blood-stained  condottieri,  mighty  robbers,  un- 
scathed by  the  many  denunciations  of  the  Church,  appeared  before  Nicholas  If.  at 
Melfi,  where  the  Pope  held  a  Council  in  1069.  They  received  their  conquests, 
with  the  exception  of  Benevento,  as  fiefs  of  the  Holy  See.  The  rights  of  the 
despoiled  rulers,  and  of  the  people  were  as  little  regarded  as  the  rights  of  the 
German  Emperor.  The  Normans  took  the  oath  of  vassalage  : — "  Fidelis  ero  S.  R. 
ecclesis  et  tibi  Dom,  meo  Nicholae." — Gregorovius — Hint.  Cit.  of  Home,  Vol  IV. 
part  ii.,  121. 

»3  Freeman  III.,  284. 

1*  Fidelitatem  facere  nolui  nee  volo,  quia  nee  ego  promisi,  nee  antecessores 
meos  antecessoribus  tuis  id  fecisse  comperio. — Ep.  Lanfranc  X.  Freeman,  IV.,  433. 


THE   EMERALD   RING.  387 

wrote :— "  You  know,  most  excellent  son,  how  sincerely  I  loved 
you  before  I  reached  the  Papal  dignity,  and  also  how  active  I 
proved  rayseK  in  your  business,  especially  with  what  zeal  I 
laboured  that  you  might  rise  to  the  kingship.  For  which 
I  incurred  grave  ill  repute  (infamiam)  from  my  brothers 
(cardinals),  who  murmured  at  my  exerting  myself  with  such 
predilection  for  the  perpetration  of  such  bloodshed."  ^^ 

According  to  the  Chronicler,  if  William  had  lived  two 
years  longer  he  would  have  conquered  Ireland  "  without 
weapons."  ^^  Giraldus  has  a  story  that  William  Ruf  us,  looking 
from  the  headland  of  St.  David's  across  to  Ireland,  threatened 
to  assemble  a  great  fleet  and  conquer  it.  He  adds  that  when 
this  threat  reached  King  Muirchertach  he  asked  simply,  "  Did 
he  say,  '  With  the  help  of  God'  ?  "  "  The  conquest  of  Ireland," 
says  Goldwin  Smith,  "  was  simply  the  sequel  of  the  conquest 
of  England."  " 

In  1219  the  King  of  Man  surrendered  the  island  to  tho 
Pope  and  was  re-invested  with  it,  to  hold  as  a  fief,  and  the 
investiture  was  made  with  a  ring  sent  for  that  purpose.  It  is 
stated  that  claims  were  made  by  the  Pope  to  be  acknowledged 
as  over-lord  of  Scotland  and  Ireland.^^  Roderick,  the  King  of 
Connacht,  was,  we  are  assured,  offered  six  wives  (in  succession, 
of  course)  if  he  would  become  the  Pope's  liegeman !  ^* 

It  has  been  alleged  that  Donncadh,  the  son  of  Brian,  when, 
after  his  deposition,  he  was  an  exile  in  Rome,  transferred  the 
lordship  of  Ireland  to  the  Pope  by  delivering  to  him  the  crown 
and  regalia  of  the  High  King.  This  is,,  of  course,  an  absurd 
fiction,  but  it  may  have  been  invented  and  put  in  circulation 
by  persons  who  did  not  know  that  the  Ard  Righ  in  Erin  had 
only  a  life  estate  and  could  not  forgive  food  rents  much  less 
transfer  a  kingdom.   Many  such  serviceable  fables  were  invented 

»  Ep.  Greg.  VII.     Bosquet,  XIV.,  648.     Freeman,  III.,  319. 

1^  Ond  gif  he  moste  ha  gyt  twa  year  libtan  he  haefde  Yrlande  mid  his  waer- 
scipe  gewunnon,  ond  wid-utan  aelcon  waepon. — Chr on.  Petit.,  1087.  "And  if  he 
might  have  yet  two  years  lived  he  had  Ireland  with  his  war  ships  (?)  won  without 
any  weapon."  Stevenson  translates  "  waerscipe"  by  "valour,"  Earle  by  "wary 
negotiation."  We  suggest  "  war  ships,"  i.e.,  he  would  only  have  to  sail  over  and 
take  possession. — Earle,  Saxon  Chron.,  pp.  222,  355.  It.  Camb.  II.,  7  (Rolls  S. 
VI.,  109).  As  to  William  Rufus,  see  Giraldus  Hiner  Kamb  II.,  c.  I.  Rolls  Series 
Vol.  6  p.  109. 

"  Ireland,  p.  45. 

18  Raynaldi.    Amiales  Eccl.  for  1819,  Vol.  XIII.,  p.  297. 

1^  "  The  Pope  had  offered  right  over  Erin  to  himself  and  his  seed  after  him  for 
ever,  and  six  married  wives,  provided  that  he  desisted  from  the  sin  of  the  women 
thenceforward.  But  Ruaidhri  did  not  accept  this."  Ann.  of  Loch  Ce,  £.  S.  I.  315 
(A.D.  i233J. 


888  EARLY   IRISH    HISTORY. 

to  bolster  up  the  forged  donation  of  Constantine.  "  Accus- 
tomed," writes  Gregorovius,  "  to  harried  proprietors  surrender- 
ing their  free  property,  to  take  it  back  as  a  fief  of  the  Church, 
the  Church  sought  to  extend  these  legal  relations,  to  expand 
these  domains  into  kingdoms,  and  to  render  them  all  tributary 
to  herself.  These  titles  were  innumerable  and  often  curious. 
Gregory  VII.  claimed  feudal  supremacy  over  Bohemia  because 
Alexander  II.  had  conceded  the  use  of  a  mitre  to  Duke  Wratis- 
law ;  over  Russia  because  the  fugitive  prince  of  Novgorod  had 
visited  the  tomb  of  St.  Peter  and  had  offered  him  his  country 
as  a  fief ;  over  Hungary  because  Henry  III.  had  placed  the 
lance  and  crown  of  that  conquered  country  as  votive  offerings 
in  St.  Peter's."  20 

We  must  now  turn  to  the  state  of  affairs  in  Erin.  Mael- 
seachlainn,  who  died  in  1022  A.D.,  isjustly  regarded  as  the  last 
Ard-Righ  of  Erin.  Subsequently,  several  of  the  provincial 
kings  were  styled  Ard-Righ  by  their  partisans,  but  were  syled 
by  the  chroniclers  |ii  co  p|;epAb|\A  (fereshowra),  i.e.,  "kings  with 
gainsaying^"  The  predominant  power  passed  from  province  to 
province  making  the  circuit  of  Erin,  and  would,  no  doubt,  in 
the  end,  as  in  other  countries,  and  at  no  distant  date,  have 
become  fixed  in  a  paramount  dynasty  if  there  had  been  no 
ioreign  intervention.  Meanwhile,  there  were  the  usual  intestine 
wars  that  precede  and  accompany  the  birth-throes  of  a  nation. 
Notwithstanding  all  this,  Ireland,  we  affirm,  and  hope  to  prove, 
was,  in  comparison  with  the  rest  of  Europe,  and  particularly 
with  Italy,  an  oasis  of  purity,  piety,  and  progress. 

After  Maelseachlainn  there  was,  according  to  some  autho- 
rities, an  interregnum,  during  which  the  principal  management 
of  affairs  was  vested  in  two  regents — as  we  may  style  them — 
Cuan  O'Lochain,  the  poet,  and  Corcoran,  the  cleric.  This 
lasted  about  four  years,  and  Donncadh  MacBrian,  the  son  of 
Brian  Boru,  then  became  overlord  of  all  Erin,  except  Ulster. 
He  received  the  hostages  of  Ossory,  Leinster,  Meath,  and 
Connacht.  He  was  deposed  in  1064,  and  his  nephew,  Turlough, 
became  King  of  Munster.  This  he  effected  through  the  aid  of 
Diarmuid  Machnambo,  King  of  Leinster.  Diarmuid  became 
the  most  powerful  ruler  in  the  island,  but  he  fell  in  battle 
against  Conchobar,  son  of  Maelseachlain,  in  1072.  Turlough 
O' Brian  then  regained  the  position  his  uncle,  Donncadh,  had 

*  Gregorovius,     Rome,  vol.  IV.,  Part  I.,  176.    See  the  authorities  there  cited. 


THE   EMERALD   RING.  389 

held,  and  some  claim  that  he  obtained  the  submission  of 
Ulster.  He  died  in  1086,  and  was  succeeded  by  his  son, 
Muirchertach. 

Three  years  before,  in  1083,  Domhnall  Ua  Lochlainn  became 
King  of  Aileach.     He  was  of  the  race  of  Niall  of  the  Nine 
Hostages,  descended  from  Domhnall,  brother  of  that  Niall  who 
was  Ard-Righ,  and  died  in  919.     Between  these  now  lay  the 
contest  for  the  overlordship.     They  fought  with  varying  for- 
tunes.    0' Lochlainn  was  at  one  time  acknowledged  king  for  a 
few  months,  and  O'Brian  made  a  triumphal  circuit  of  Erin  soon 
after.     Finally  O'Brian  died  in  1119  and  O'Lochlainn  in  1121, 
leaving  the  contest  undecided.     But  the  forces  of  the  O'Brians 
were,  seemingly,  exhausted.     After  an  interval  of  fifteen  years 
the  contest  was  renewed  again,  this  time  between  the  O'Conors 
of   Connacht    and    the  O'Lochlainns   of   Aileach.     Turlough 
O'Conor  leading  the  men  of  Connacht,  and  aided  by  the  men  of 
Leinster,  under  Diarmaid  MacMurcadha,  crushed  the  Munster 
men  at  Moin  Mor,  near  Emly,  in  Tipperary.    But  being  attacked 
in  the   same  year   by   Muirchertach   Ua   Lochlainn,   he   was 
forced  to  give  him  hostages.     He  renewed  the  struggle,  how- 
ever, the  following  year,  and  maintained  it  with  great  tenacity 
until  his  death,  in   1056,   when  he  was  succeeded  by  his  son, 
Ruadhri,  or  Roderick.     The  latter  was  not  then  in  a  position 
to  establish  his  claim  to  the  shadowy  overlordship.  Muirchertach 
Ua  Lochlainn  stood  forth  as  a  rival  claimant,  and  both  parties 
prepared  to  gather  around  them,  by  persuasion  or  force,  the 
minor  chieftains  and   their  fighting  men.      Omitting  minor 
operations    O'Conor    sailed   down  the   Shannon    and   made  a 
partition   of  Munster   between   O'Brian   and  Macarthy.     He 
established  a  firm  alliance  with  Tighernan  O'Ruairc,  who  ruled 
over  Cavan,  Lei  trim,  and  Longford.     On  his  side  O'Lochlainn 
was  equally  active.     Immediately  after  the  death  of  Turlough 
he   invaded   Ulidia    and    took    away   choice    hostages.      He 
then  marched  south  and  took  the  hostages  of  Leinster  frorrf 
Diarmaid  Mac  Murcadha  in  return  for  giving  him  the  whole 
province.      Diarmaid  thenceforth  stood  firmly  by  him  in  his 
contest  with  O'Conor.     O'Lochlainn  next  marched  with  the 
men  of  Oirghiall  into  Ossory,  and  received  the  submission  of 
the  chieftains  there.      The  following  year   he   attended  the 
great  ceremony  at  the  consecration  of  Mellifont,  when  he  gave 
eight  score  co^\'s  and  sixty  ounces  of  gold  to  the  Lord  and  to 


390  EARLY   IRISH   HISTORY. 

the  clergy.  Magraidin,  the  continuator  of  Tigernach,  states  that 
Tighernan  Ua  Ruairc  and  Dearbforgaill  were  both  present  on 
that  occasion,  when  the  latter  gave,  as  already  stated,  sixty 
ounces  of  gold  and  other  valuable  presents.  The  Annals  of 
Ulster  state  that  Tighernan  Ua  Ruairc  was  also  present, 
and  it  may,  we  think,  be  fairly  assumed  that  he  and  Dearbforgaill 
were  not  then  living  apart,  though  the  contrary  is  often  stated. 
In  1159  O'Lochlainn  marched  into  Meath,  and  put  Donncadh 
Ua  Maelseachlainn  in  full  kingship  of  it  from  the  Shannon  to 
the  sea.  After  this  O'Conor  mustered  all  his  forces  and 
advanced  to  attack  him.  He  was  joined  by  strong  battalions 
from  Munster.  Tighernan  Ua  Ruairc  brought  the  O'Ruaircs, 
O'Reillys,  and  O'Farrels  from  Leitrim,  Cavan,  and  Longford. 
O'Conor  marched  to  Ardee,  the  historic  fighting  ground  of 
Cuchulainn.  There  he  was  met  by  Ua  Lochlainn  at  the  head 
of  the  Cinel  Eogain,  the  Cinel  Conaill,  the  Oirghialla,  and  the 
Ulidians.  A  battle  rout  was  inflicted  on  O'Conor.  The  six 
battalions  of  Connacht  and  Ua  Ruairc  were  overthrown,  and 
the  two  battalions  from  Munster  "  were  dreadfully  slaughtered." 
O'Lochlainn  then  led  his  victorious  army — the  Cinel  Eogain, 
the  Cinel  Conaill,  the  Ulidians,  and  the  Oirghialla — into 
Connacht,  but  had  to  return  "  without  peace  and  without 
hostages."  O'Conor  was,  however,  not  crushed.  He  continued 
the  struggle  with  stubborn  pertinacity.  The  next  year,  1160. 
he  made  a  hosting  into  Teffia,  sailed  down  the  Shannon,  and 
took  hostages  from  the  Dal  Cais.  Then  he  went  to  meet 
O'Lochlainn  at  Eas  Ruaidh  with  a  view  to  making  peace  ;  but 
they  could  not  come  to  an  agreement.  In  1161  O'Conor,  with 
Tighernan  Ua  Ruairc,  invaded  Meath,  and  took  hostages  from 
the  Ui  Faclain  and  the  Ui  Failghe,  but  was  himself  obliged  to 
give  hostages  to  O'Lochlainn.  In  1165  he  made  a  hosting 
into  Desmond,  and  took  hostages  from  MacCarthy.  At  this 
time,  notwithstanding  his  having  given  hostages  to  O'Lochlainn, 
he  seems  to  have  had  a  nominal  suzerainty  over  Desmond, 
Thomond,  Meath,  and  BrefFni.  The  following  year  brought 
the  downfall  and  death  of  his  rival.  O'Lochlainn  had  treacher- 
ously blinded  Eocaid,  the  son  of  Donnsluibhe,  King  of  Ulidia, 
against  the  guarantee  of  Ua  Cearbhail,  the  King  of  Oirghialla, 
and  "  after  dishonouring  the  co-arb  of  Patrick  and  the  staff  of 
Jesus,  and  the  co-arb  of  Columba,  and  the  Gospel  of  St.  Martin 
and  many  clergy,  besides  Ua  Cearbhail  and  the  Oirghialla." 


THE    EMERALD    RING,  391 

The  UHdians  rose  against  him,  and  O'Conor  led  the  Connacht 
men  and  Ua  Ruairc's  men  into  Tyrone.  A  battle  was  fought 
at  Leiter  Luinn,  near  Newtown  Hamilton,  in  Armagh,  and 
O'Lochlainn  was  slain,  O'Conor  then  marched  to  Ath  Cliath 
with  Ua  Ruairc  and  Maelseachlainn  and  their  forces.  There 
"  he  was  inaugurated  king  as  honourably  as  any  king  of  the 
Gael  was  ever  inaugurated,  and  he  presented  their  '  retainers ' 
to  the  foreigners,  in  many  cows,  for  he  levied  four  thousand 
cows  on  the  men  of  Erin  for  them." 

O'Conor  then  received  the  submission  and  hostages  of  the 
Oirghialla  and  other  chieftains,  and  gave  them  "retainers." 
Next  he  marched  against  Diarmaid  MacMurchada,  who  advanced 
against  him  and  gave  him  battle,  but  was  defeated. 

It  was  on  this  occasion,  in  our  judgment,  that  Diarmuid 
fled  from  the  kingdom,  was  deposed,  and  his  kinsman,  Mur- 
chadh,  the  son  of  Murchada,  set  up  by  O'Conor  in  his  stead.^^ 
There  is  an  entry  in  the  Book  of  Leinster — evidently  of  con- 
temporary date — which  refers  to  this  event.  It  runs  as  follows : — 
"  Wirra,  wirra  (ttluipe)  'tis  a  great  deed  that  has  been  done  this 
day,  the  Kalends  of  August,  viz.,  Diarmuid,  the  son  of  Donn- 
cadh  MacMurchada,  King  of  Leinster  and  of  the  foreigners,  to 
have  been  banished  over  the  sea  (eastwards)  by  the  men  of 
Erin.  Oh,  Holy  Trinity!  uch !  uch !  What  shall  I  do?" 
This  entry  was,  we  suggest,  made  by,  or  at  the  dictation  of,  Aedh 
MacCrimthainn.  He  had  been  tutor  of  Diarmaid,  and  was  now 
Ferleighinn  at  Ferns.  It  was  by  him,  we  think,  or  under  his 
direction,  that  the  Book  of  Leinster  was  compiled,  and  not,  as 
O'Curry  thought,  by  Finn,  Bishop  of  Kildare,  who  died  in 
1160  A.D.  There  is  an  interesting  letter  from  the  latter  copied 
into  the  Book  of  Leinster.  It  runs : — "  Life  and  health  from 
Finn,  Bishop,  (i.e.  of  Kildare)  to  Aedh  MacCrimthainn, 
Ferleighinn  of  the  chief  king  of  Leth  Mogha,  and  co-arb  of 
Colum  MacCrimthainn,  and  chief  historian  of  Leinster  in 
wisdom,  and  knowledge,  and  cultivation  of  books,  and  scienc3, 
and  learning.  And  let  the  conclusion  of  this  history  be  written 
for  me  by  thee.  0  acute  Aedh,  thou  possessor  of  the  sparkling 
intellect.      .      .     ^     Let  Mac  Lonain's  book  of  poems  be  given 

-^  The  accounts  in  onr  Annals  are  confused  by  the  introduction  of  a  separate 
invasion  en  revanche  by  O'Ruairc.  We  follow  Magraidin's  account  up  to  tho 
battle  (continuation  of  Tigernach,  Rev.  Celt.,  18  p.  168).  The  entry  in  the  Boole  of 
Leinster,  to  be  presently  mentioned,  says  he  was  banished,  not  by  Ua  Ruairc  but 
by  the  men  of  Erin,  i.e.,  O'Conor's  army. 


392  EARLY   IRISH  HISTORY. 

to  me  that  we  may  find  out  the  sense  of  the  poems  that  are  in 
it."22 

The  grief  of  Aedh,  if  we  are  right  in  our  surmise,  was  not 

destined  to  be  of  long  duration.     Glad  tidings  were  coming  to 

him  from  over  sea.     Diarmaid  fled  to  the  Court  of  Henry  II., 

who   was  then  in  Acquitaine.     He  was  cordially  received,  and 

obtained  from  the  King  Letters  Patent  authorising  his  subjects 

in  every  part  of  his  dominions   to  aid  him  in  recovering  his 

kingdom.     He  further  obtained — what  was,  perhaps,  scarcely  of 

less    importance,   what    is    commonly    known    as    the    Bull 

Laudabiliter.  The  document  was,  in  our  judgment,  composed 

or  issued    at    this   time.     We  shall   state  in   full  detail  our 

view   respecting  it  in  our  next  chapter.     Here  let  us  give, 

with  our  translation,  the    text  from   the  Book    of  Leinster, 

hitherto    unpublished,  and,    with   one   exception,^^  unnoticed 

in  the  voluminous  works  and  treatises  on  this  subject.^* 

The  prefatory  lines  are,  we  suggest,  from  Aedh  MacCrim- 

thainn,   who  probably   survived   his  pupil.     The   date  of  his 

death  is  not  known. 

[Laudabiliter.] 

Ah,  men  of  the  faith  of  the  world  how  beautiful ! 
When   over   the   cold  sea   in  ships   Zephyrus   wafts  glad  tidings 
(literally  presents). 

[A  Bull  granted  to  the  King  of  the  English  on  the  collation  (i.e.  grant) 
of  Hibernia,  in  which  nothing  is  taken  away  from.  the.  rights  of  the 
Irish,  as  appears  hy  the  toords  of  the  textJ\ 

Adrian,  bishop,  servant  of  the  servants  of  God,  to  our  well-beloved 
son  in  Christ,  the  illustrious  King  of  the  English,  health  and  apostolical 
benediction.  Laudably  and  profitably  enough  does  your  magnificence 
think  of  winning  a  glorious  name  on  earth  and  heaping  up  the  reward 
of  eternal  happiness  in  heaven  while  you  purpose  like  a  prince  (truly) 
Catholic  to  extend  the  bounds  of  the  Church,  to  proclaim  to  a  rude  and 
untaught  people  the  truth  of  the  Christian  faith,  and  to  root  out 
nurseries  of  vice  from  the  field  of  the  Lord,  and  for  doing  this  with 
greater  propriety  you  ask  the  advice  and  support  of  the  Holy  See.  In 
which  matter  we  are  confident  your  progress  will  be  more  successful 
with  God's  help,  in  proportion  as  you  proceed  with  loftier  purpose  and 

^  LL.  Facsimile,  lower  margin,  p.  228.  Colum  MacCrimtliainn  was  the 
founder  of  the  Abbey  of  Tir-fla-j;ias  in  Tipperary.  The  entry  is  written  under 
the  story  of  Tadg,  the  son  of  Cian,  which  is,  perhaps,  the  story  referred  to.  See 
Todd,  War  of  the  Gad,  X. 

^'  Boichorst  refers  to  the  LL.  casually  in  a  note. 

^■*  As  regards  the  pagination  of  the  Book  of  LeinMer  it  is  to  be  noted  that  the 
original  book  ends  on  page  354.  From  3.55  to  376  inclusive  there  is  a  blank.  From 
377  to  the  last  page,  411,  is  moJern— about  300  years  old.  Facsimile  LL.  Intro- 
duction. 


THE   EMERALD  RING.  3^3 

greater  discretion,  because  those  (projects)  usually  have  a  happy  end 
and  issue  which  have  their  beginning  in  ardour  for  the  faith  and  love 
of  religion.  Truly  there  is  no  doubt,  as  you  freely  (voluntas  tua)  recog- 
nize, that  Hi  hernia  and  all  islands  on  which  Christ,  the  Sun  of  Justice, 
has  shone,  which  have  I'eceived  the  teachings  of  the  Christian  faith, 
belong  to  the  "jus"  of  the  blessed  apostle  Peter  and  the  Holy  Roman 
Church.  Hence  we  have  the  greater  pleasure  in  planting  in  them  a 
nursery  of  the  faith  and  seed  pleasing  to  God,  as  conscience  tells  us, 
and  we  see  that  this  is  strictly  demanded  of  us.  Since  you  intimate  to 
us,  well-beloved  son  in  Christ,  that  you  wish  to  enter  the  island  of 
Hibemia  to  subject  that  people  to  laws  and  root  out  the  nurseries  of 
vice  from  it,  and  are  willing  to  pay  from  each  house  one  denarius 
annually  as  cess  to  blessed  Peter,  and  to  preserve  the  rights  of  the 
Church  of  that  land  unimpaired  and  inviolate,  so  we,  seconding  your 
pious  and  laudable  desire  with  the  favour  it  deserves,  and  according  to 
your  request  a  benignant  assent,  are  pleased  and  willing  that  to  extend 
the  bounds  of  the  Church  and  for  preventing  the  re-growth  of  vice 
(recursu)  and  for  amending  morals  and  sowing  the  seeds  of  virtue  and 
for  the  advancement  of  the  Christian  religion,  you  shall  enter  that 
island  and  do  therein  what  tends  to  the  honour  of  God  and  the  salvation 
of  the  people.  And  let  the  people  of  that  land  receive  you  honourably 
and  respect  you  as  dominies — that  is,  the  rights  of  the  Church  remaining 
unimpaired  and  inviolate  and  saving  to  blessed  Peter  and  to  the  Holy 
Roman  Church  from  each  house  one  denarius  annually  as  cess.  If, 
therefore,  you  shall  bring  to  completion  effectively  what  you  have 
planned  in  your  mind,  strive  to  discipline  that  nation  in  good  morals, 
and  act  as  well  by  yourself  as  by  those  whom  you  have  ascertained  to 
be  by  their  faith,  their  words,  and  their  manner  of  life,  fit  for  the  task, 
that  the  Church  may  be  adorned  there,  that  the  religion  and  faith  of 
Christ  may  be  planted  and  grow,  and  that  what  appertains  to  the 
honour  of  God  and  the  salvation  of  souls  may  be  so  ordered  by  you 
that  you  may  merit  to  obtain  from  God  the  abundance  of  the  eternal 
resvard  and  succeed  in  winning  a  glorious  name  on  earth  and  in  heaven. 

Text  from  the  Book  of  Leinster. 

A  "ouine  x\a  ct^etc  "oon  cpxiosol  51T)  AlAinn. 

Aequore  cum  gelido  Zepherus  fert.  (A  Fexennia)  ^^  [recte)  xennia 
kymbis. 

[Bulla  concessa  regi  anglorum  super  collationem  Hybernise  in  qua 
nichil  derogotur  juri  Hybernicorum  sicut  in  serie  verborum  patet,] 

Adrianus  episcopus  servus  servorum  Dei  carissirao  in  Chriyto  filio, 
illustri  regi  Anglorum  Henrico  salutem  et  apostolicam  benedictionem. 
Laudabiliter  et  satis  fructuose  de  glorioso  nomine  propagando  in  terris 
et  seternse  felicitatis  prgemio  cumulando  in  cjelis  tua  magnificentia 
cogitat,  dum  ad  dilatandos  ecclesiie  terminos  et  ad  declarandam  indoctis 
et  rudibus  populis  Christianas  fidei  veritatem  et  vitiorum  plantaria  de 
« 

'*  Tho  conclusion  should  be,  we  think  : — "  That  you  may  merit  to  obtain  an 
abundance  of  the  eternal  reward  in  heaven,  and  succeed  ia  winning  a  glorious 
name  on  earth."     The  words  have  been  transposed. 

'^  "A  Fexennia  "should,  we  suggest,  be  '"  Xeiniia."  The  proper  word  is 
"Xeuia,"  but  the  writer  doubles  the  "  d  "  to  get  his  dautyl  iu  tho  6tb  ylace. 


B94i  EARLY   IRISH   HISTORY. 

agro  Dominico  exstirpanda,  sicut  Catholicus  princepts,  intendLs,  et  ad 
id  conuenientius  exsequendum  consilium  apostolicum  exigis  et  favorera. 
In  quo  facto  quanto  altiori  consilio  et  majori  discretions  procedis  tanto 
in  eo  feliciorem  progressum  te,  prsestante  Domino,  confidimus  (habi- 
turum)  eo  quod  ad  bonum  exitum  et  finem  soleant  pertingere  quae  de 
ardore  fidei  et  religionis  amore  principium  acceperunt.  Sane  Hiberniam 
et  omnes  insulas  quibus  sol  justitise  Christus  illuxit  quae  documenta  fidei 
perceperunt  ad  jus  beati  Petri  apostoli  et  sacrosanctse  Romanae  ecclesise, 
quod  tua  etiam  voluntus  recognoscit,  non  est  dubium  pertinere.  Unde 
(tanto)  in  eis  libentius  plantationem  fidelem  et  germen  gratum  Deo 
inserimus  (quanto)  id  a  nobis  interno  examine  districtius  prospiscimus 
exigendum.  Significasti  nobis  siquidem,  fili  in  Christo  carissime,  te 
Hibemiae  insulam,  ad  subdendum  populum  ilium  legibus  et  inde  vitiorum 
plantaria  exstirpanda  velle  intrare  et  de  singulis  domibus  annuam 
beato  Petro  unum  denarium  solvere  pensionem,  et  jura  ecclesiae  illius 
terrae  illabata  et  Integra  conservare.  Nos  itaque  pium  et  laudabile 
iesiderium  tuum  favore  congruo  proscquentes,  et  petition!  tuse 
benigne  impendentes  assensum,  gratum  et  acceptum  habemus  ut  pro 
dilatandis  ecclesiae  terminis,  pro  vitiorum  restringendo  recursu,  pro 
corrigendis  moribus  et  virtutibus  inserendis  pro  Christianae  religionis 
augmento,  insulam  illam  ingrediaris  et  quae  ad  honorem  Dei  et  salutem 
terrae  illius  spectaverint  exequaris,  et  illius  terrae  populus  houorifice  te 
recipiat  et  sicut  dominum  veneretur,  jure  nimirum  ecclesiarum  illibato 
et  integro  permanente,  et  salva  beato  Petro  apostolo  et  sacrosanctae 
Romanae  ecclesiae  de  singulis  domibus  unum  denarium  annua  pensione. 
Si  ergo  quod  animo  concepisti  eifectu  duxeris  persequente  coinplendum, 
studeas  gentem  illam  bonis  moribus  informare  et  agas  tam  per  te  quam 
per  illos  quos  ad  hoc  fide  verbo  et  vita  idoneos  esse  perspexeris  ut 
decoretur  ibi  ecclesia,  plantetur  et  crescat  fidei  Christianae  religio,  et 
quae  ad  honorem  Dei  et  salutem  pertinent  animarum  taliter  ordinentur 
ut  a  Deo  sempiternae  mercedis  cumulum  consequi  merearis,  et  in  terris 
gloriosum  nomen  valeas  et  in  ccelis  obtinere.     Vale.^^ 

27  We  have  italicised  the  principal  variants  in  this  text  :— 

Henrico  is  absent  in  other  texts. 

Voluntai. — Here  and  in  Matthew  Paris,  Rolls  series,  I.,  p.  304  only.  In 
Baronius  and  elsewhere,  nobilitas.  We  make  no  doubt  voluntas  is  archetypal ;  no 
scribe  would  change  nobilitas  into  voluntas.  We  are  unable  to  say  whether  the 
codex  of  Matthew  Paris  in  the  Vatican,  from  which  Baronius  probably  got  his 
version,  has  voluntas. 

Recursu  is  elsewhere  decursu. 

In  cnelis,  elsewhere  m  saculum,  or  in  scecuUs.  Baronius  has  valeas  in  STCulis. 
In  ccelis  is,  we  think,  the  true  text. 

The  context  indicates,  we  suggest,  that  the  final  clause  should  run  : — "  Ut  a 
Deo  sempiternae  mercedis  cumulum  consequi  merearis  in  ccelis  et  gloriosum  nomen 
valeas  in  terris  obtinere.     Vale." 

Book  of  Leinster,  Facsimile,  p.  342,  Giraldus,  Piolls  series,  I„  65,  III.  195, 
R,ad.  de  Diceto,  R.S.,  I.  300.  Baronius,  vol.  19,  p.  128,  A.D.  1150.,  this  is  the 
text  of  Migne,  vol.  183,  p.  1441,  etc. 


[    395     J 


CFIAPTER    XXVII. 

THE  CYMRO-FRANKISH  ADVENTURERS.* 

BEFORE  considering  what  we  shall  call  for  brevity,  the 
Papal  Documents,  whether  genuine  or  spurious, 
relating  to  the  alleged  Donation  of  Ireland  to  Henry  II,  it 
is  necessary  to  say  a  few  words  about  Diarmaid  himself. 

Diarmaid  at  the  time  of  his  banishment  had  been  forty 
years  on  the  throne.  The  date  of  his  birth  is  uncertain,  our 
texts  agree  that  he  was  the  son  of  Donnchadh  Mac  Murcadha, 
and  20th  in  descent  from  Enna  Ceinselach  who  was  king  of 
Leinster  in  the  4th  century.  Donncadh  was  slain  in  1115,2  and 
was  succeeded  by  Enna  who  reigned  eight  years  (1117-1125). 
Diarmaid  who,  according  to  our  view,  was  too  young  to 
reign  when  his  father  died,  mounted  the  throne  on  the  death 
of  Enna  in  1126.  We  would  place  his  birth  about  the  year 
1 100.3  Till  his  flight  he  had  shown  himself  an  active, 
ambitious,  and  withal  a  politic  ruler.  Shortly  after  his 
accession  when  he  was  firmly  seated  on  the  throne  of  Leinster 
he  claimed  the  over-lordship  of  Leath  Mogha,  that  is,  ol 
the  whole  South  of  Ireland.      He  invaded  Ossory  in  1134. 

»  The  followers  of  William  the  Conqueror,  commonly  called  Normatis, 
called  themselves  Francii  long  after  their  settlement  in  England,  The 
adventurers  to  Ireland  were  from  Wales,  i.e.,  Cymri,  or  Francii.  They 
spoke  either  Cymric  or  French,  or  in  some  cases  I<atin.  Henry  II,  though 
brought  up  in  Englasd  for  four  years  could'nt  speak  English. 

2  F.  M.  1115.  Donncadh  Ua  Maelnambo,  the  father  of  Diarmaid,  and  the 
great  grandson  of  Maelnambo,  was  slain  in  a  battle  in  which  Domhnall 
O'Brien  and  the  foreigners  of  Dublin  were  victorious. 

3  O' Donovan  gives  his  genealogy  (F.  M.  1052  a.d,)  and  says  he  was  sixty- 
two  in  1153,  which  would  place  his  birth  at  1090.  We  find  it  difficult  to 
accept  this  view,  as  if  he  was  twenty-five  at  his  father's  death  we  should 
expect  him  to  have  succeeded  immediately  ;  and  his  vigour  and  activity  up 
to  his  death  in  1171  would  be  very  exceptional  in  a  man  of  eighty.  There 
is  an  entry  in  the  Book  of  Leinster,  on  the  other  hand,  which  states  that  he 
reigned  forty-six  years  and  died  in  the  sixty-first  (LXI)  year  of  his  age. 
This  we  cannot  accept,  as  it  would  make  him  out  to  be  only  fifteen  (61 — 46) 
at  the  time  of  his  accession.  The  entry  should  probably  be  LXXI  and  not 
LXI.  Mistakes  often  occur  in  the  Roman  numerals.  See  F.  M,  1052,  1115 
and  1153.     Todd,   War  of  the  Gael  xi.  and  LL  p.  39  g. 


3^6  EABLY   IRISH   HISTORY. 

and  though  repulsed  at  first  succeeded  afterwards  in 
defeating  the  men  of  Ossory  and  their  allies,  the  northmen 
of  Waterford,  and  laid  siege  to  the  latter  town.  4  In  1149 
he  invaded  Meath  and  in  alliance  with  the  Northmen  of 
Dublin  plundered  Duleek.  He  next  made  alliance  with 
O'Conor,  and  helped  him,  as  we  have  seen,  to  win  the  battle 
of  Moin  Mor  over  the  men  of  Munster,  and  to  invade 
O'Ruairc's  territory. 

Afterwards  when  MacLochlainn  became  predominant  he 
attached  his  fortunes  to  him  and  remained  true  to  him  till 
he  fell  at  Leiter  Luin  in  11 66. 

Diarmaid  also  took  precautions  to  secure  the  support  of 
the  Church.  He  married  Mor,  the  sister  of  Saint  Laurence 
O'Toole,  and  was  a  munificent  benefactor  of  rehgion. 
Saint  Laurence,  after  he  became  Archbishop  of  Dublin, 
replaced  the  Secular  Canons,  at  Christ  Church  by  Canons 
regular  of  the  Augustinian  Order  of  the  reform  of  Aroasia 
in  Artois,  and  joined  the  Order  himself  in  11 40.  Diarmaid 
founded  and  endowed  a  Convent  for  Nuns  of  the  Aroasian  Order 
at  St.  Mary  de  Hogges  near  the  site  of  St.  Andrew's  Church  in 
the  city  of  Dublin,  and  two  dependent  cells  at  Kilcleshin 
in  Kilkenny  near  Waterford,  and  at  Aghade  in  Carlow — in 
1 15 1,  5  In  the  same  year  he  founded  the  Abbey  of  Baltin- 
glass  for  Cistercian  Monks,  and  in  1161  an  Abbey  for  Austin 
Canons  at  Ferns.  About  1160  he  confirmed  a  donation  of 
lands,  etc.,  at  Duisk  in  Kilkenny  to  Felix,  Abbot  of  Ossory, 
for  the  construction  of  a  monastery  in  honour  of  St.  Benedict. 
St.  Laurence  was  one  of  the  witnesses  to  the  charter.  6 

Diarmaid  also  founded  a  Convent  for  Canons  on  the  spot 
where  Trinity  College  now  stands,  under  the  title  of  the 
Church,  Priory,  and  Canons  of  All-Hallows,  and  endowed 
it  with  an  extensive  estate  at  Baldoyle.  The  charter  of  endow- 
ment which  is  still  extant  is  made  to  his  "  spiritual  father 

•  F.  M.  1132.  The  Siege  of  Waterford  by  Diarmaid  Mac  Murchadha  king 
of  Leinster  and  Conchobar  O'Brien,  king  of  the  Dal-Cais,  and  the  foreigners 
of  Ath-Cliath  and  L.  Carmen  who  had  200  ships  on  the  sea. 

•  O'Curry  prepared  a  pedigree  of  St.  Laurence  for  O'Hanlon's  Life  of  Ihe 
Saint,  it  will  be  found  at  page  12.  He  states  that  he  compared  the  books 
of  Ballymote,  Lecan,  and  Mac  Firbis  with  the  Book  of  Leinster  and  says : 
"  Mor  the  daughter  of  Muirchertach  ua  Tuathail  (father  of  St. Laurence)  was 
the  wife  of  Diarmaid  Mac  Murchadha,  king  of  Leinster  and  of  the  Danes." 
St.  Laurence's  nephew  was  at  this  time  (1167)  Abbot  of  the  powerful 
Abbey  of  Glendalough. 

•  See  facsimile  MS.  Gilbert  LXII.,  where  a  copy  of  this  charter  is  givea. 


THE  CYMRO-FRANKIRH   ADVENTURERS.  ^97 

and  Confessor,  Eden,  Bishop  of  Louth,"?  as  a  trustee,  and 
St.  Laurence  is  one  of  the  witnesses. 

Against  these  sohd  facts  we  find  a  considerable  quantity 
of  adverse  and  most  frequently  rhetorical  criticism  dating 
from  Giraldus  onward.  Giraldus'  description  of  Diarmaid 
is  worth  quoting  textually  :  "  In  stature  Diarmaid  was  tall 
and  his  frame  was  very  large.  Among  his  own  people  he 
was  bold  and  combative.  His  voice  was  hoarse  from  the 
frequent  and  prolonged  battle-shouts.  He  had  rather  be 
feared  than  loved  by  all.  He  pulled  down  the  mighty  and 
lifted  up  the  weak.  Odious  to  his  own  he  was  hated  by  the 
stranger.  Every  man's  hand  was  against  him  and  his  hand 
against  every  man.  In  his  youth  at  the  beginning  of  his  reign  he 
was  an  oppressor  of  the  nobility,  and  raged  against  the  magnates 
of  his  own  country  with  a  great  and  intolerable  tyranny."  8 

There  are,  we  think,  only  two  acts  answering  this  descrip- 
tion recorded  of  Diarmaid  in  our  annals.  One  is  the  blinding 
of  Niall  ua  Mordha  of  Leix,  whom  Diarmaid  released  from 
fetters  after  depriving  him  of  his  sight.  This  abominable 
practice  of  blinding  had  come  west  from  the  east,  and  was 
common  in  England  from  the  time  of  the  Conquest,  as  well 
as  in  Ireland. 

A  second  entry  in  our  annals  states  that  Diarmaid  **  acted 
treacherously  towards  the  chieftains  of  Leinster,  viz., 
Domhnall  Lord  of  Ui  Faelain,  and  ua  Tuathail,  both  of  whom 
he  killed,  and  towards  the  Lord  of  Feara  Cualann  who  was 
blinded  by  him.  This  deed  caused  great  weakness  in  Leinster, 
for  seventeen  of  the  nobility  of  Leinster  and  many  others 
with  them  were  killed."  9 

Diarmaid  is  further  charged  with  having  been  accessory 
to  the  abduction  of  an  Abbess,  lo  a  charge  which  is  probably 

'  The  charter  is  given  in  the  Registrum  Priorat.  Omn.  SS.  Ed.  R.  Butler  p.  50 

*  "  Dermod  Mac  Murchad  expelled  by  Roderick  O'Conor  for  enormous 
crimes  of  a  public  and  private  nature." — O'Conor  of  Belnagare  Dissertations 
262,  "  A  beastly  prince"  Lanigan  IV.,  184-191.  "  His  whole  life  was  a 
record  of  violence  and  villainy,  he  was  cruel,  tyrannical  and  treacherous, 
and  was  hated  in  his  own  day  as  much  as  his  memory  has  been  hated  ever 
since." — Joyce,  Short  History,  p.  245. 

'  The  Entry  F.  M.  1141  a.d.  appears  to  point  to  a  revolt  of  some  sort  which 
Diarmaid  put  down  with  probably  undue  severity.  The  rebels  were  not  his 
tribesmen. 

10  1135.  The  Abbess  of  Kildare  was  forced  and  taken  out  of  her  cloister 
by  Diarmaid  Mac  Murchadha  king  of  Leinster,  and  compelled  to  marry  one 
of  the  said  Diarmaid's  people,  at  whose  taking  he  killed  107  of  the  townsmeu, 
—  Murphy,  Ann,  Clon.,  p.  193. 


308  EARLY   IRISH   HISTORY. 

as  ill-founded  as  that  of  his  elopement  with  Dearbforgaill, 
with  which  we  have  already  dealt.  It  is  not  mentioned  by 
the  Four  Masters. 

These  are  the  only  acts  of  cruelty  recorded  against 
Diarmaid  during  a  reign  of  40  years.  His  record  wiU,  we  think, 
bear  favourable  comparison  with  those  of  contemporary 
monarchs  at  home  and  abroad. 

Assuming  the  tale  told  in  the  Metalogtcus  to  be  true,  and 

that  the  facts  stated  were  known  to  some  of  the  ecclesiastics 

or  monks  in  touch  with  Diarmaid,  the  course  he  took  after 

his  flight  was  such  as  might  have  been  reasonably  expected. 

When  an  under-lord  or  chieftain  was  unjustly  attacked  he 

appealed  for  succour  or  protection  in  the  last  resort  to  the 

High  King  or  over-lord.       But  if  the  true  over-lord  of  all 

was  the  Pope,  and  Henry  was  his  vice-gerent  (and  there  can 

be  no  doubt  that  this  was  the  orthodox  teaching,  at  the  time, 

of  the  regular,  if  not  of  the  secular,  clergy  in  the  South  of 

Ireland),  if  unable  to  stand  alone  against  O'Conor   and   his 

allies,  and  if  the  Northern  Ui  Neill  were  not  in  a  position  to 

help  him,  to  whom  could  Diarmaid  appeal  for  succour  and 

redress  but  to    Henry,    after    his    expulsion     and    flight  ? 

Diarmaid,  therefore,  determined  to  turn  for  help  to  Henry 

Plantagenet.     He  went  first  to  Bristol,  where  he  found  shelter 

for  a  time  in  the  Priory  of  St.  Augustin.    Thence  he  proceeded 

to  Normandy,  and    finally  to  Acquitaine,  where   he    found 

Henry.     He  was  cordially  received,  but  Henry  was  not  then 

in  a  position  to  restore  him  to  his  kingdom  by  force  of  arms. 

After  receiving  his  bond  of  allegiance  and  oath  of  fealty  the 

king  gave  him  an  open  letter  directed  to  all  his  subjects  in 

every  part    of  his  dominions  stating  :     "  If  anyone  is  willing 

to  aid  in  restoring  Diarmaid  our  liegeman,  be  it  known  to  him 

that  he  will  have  our  licence  and  our  favour."    Assuming  again 

that  the  story  in  the  Metalogicus  is  true,  and  that  Henry  was 

aware  that  the  Pope  claimed  the  over-lordship  of  Ireland,  we 

think  it  unlikely  that  he  would  have  given  this  licence  without  the 

authority  of  the  reigning  Pope,  Alexander  III.    Accepting 

the     homage    of    one    of     the     Pope's     under-lords     and 

authorising  his  own  subjects  to  go  in  arms  to  help  him  with- 

11  Unde  et  quisquia  ei  (i.e.,  Dermetio)  de  amplitudinis  nostr«e  finibus 
tanquam  homini  et  fiddli  nostro  restitutionis  auxilium  impendere  voluerit  so 
nostram  ad  hoc  tam  gratiam  noverit  quam  licentiam  obtinere. —  Expug. 
Hib.  II. 


THE   CYMRO-FRANKTSH   ADVEXTURERS.  399 

out  the  Pope's  kcence  would  be  a  clear  invasion  of  Papal 
rights.  We  are,  therefore,  prepared  to  find  it  stated  that 
Alexander  did  confirm  Pope  Adrian's  donation.  The 
authenticity  of  the  Bull  is,  of  course,  questioned,  but  we 
think  that  the  probabilites  are  strongly  in  favour  of  its 
being  genuine.  Henry  would  never  have  led  an  army  into 
Ireland  without  a  confirmation  of  Adrian's  Donation, 
assuming  it  to  be  genuine. 

The  dates  at  this  point  cannot  be  exactly  fixed.  The 
negotiations  which  probably  included  a  reference  to  Rome, 
as  we  have  suggested,  must  have  occupied  a  considerable 
time,  Diarmaid  was  banished  in  1166,  he  did  not  return  to 
Bristol  until  1168.  The  Pope's  open  letter  of  confirmation  ran 
thus  : — 

In  as  much  as  the  -privilegia  which  have  been  on  reasonable 
grounds  granted  by  our  predecessors  deserve  to  be  confirmed  and 
permanently  sanctioned.  We  treading  in  the  foot-steps  of  the 
venerable  Pope  Adrian,  and  hoping  for  the  fruit  of  what  you 
desire,  (hereby)  ratify  and  confirm  his  grant  made  to  yoa  of  the 
lordship  of  the  Kingdom  of  Ireland,  saving  to  the  Blessed  Peter 
and  the  Holy  Roman  Church,  as  in  England  so  in  Ireland,  an 
annual  cess  of  one  denarius  from  each  house,  to  the  end  that  the 
barbarous  nation  which  is  qualified  with  the  christian  name,  by 
your  diligence  may  be  clothed  with  loveliness  of  manners  ;  and  the 
Church  of  this  land,  hitherto  in  disorder,  be  reduced  to  order,  and 
that  people  may,  in  future,  not  only  be  called,  but  live  like,  pro- 
fessing Christians.  " 

The  coming  of  Henry  may  be  properly  said  to  have  begun 
at  this  point.  The  proceedings  of  the  adventurers  who 
availed  themselves  of  his  licence,  and  were  his  precursors, 
will  be  best  understood  when  read  in  connection  with  subsequent 
events.  We  shall,  therefore,  reserve  details  on  this  head 
for  the  second  volume  of  this  history,  and  confine  ourselves 
here  to  stating  briefly  the  events  that  occurred  up  to  the  death 
of  Diarmaid. 

On  leaving  Acquitaine  Diarmaid  returned  to  Bristol  where 
he  read  the  king's  letter  publicly,  and  began  his  quest  for 
adventurers.  After  some  time,  probably  in  the  summer  of 
1 168,  he  fell  in  with  a  ruined  baron  whose  estate  had  been 
confiscated  by  Henry — Richard  De  Clare,  Earl  of  Pembroke 

12  In  the  De  Instr  Princ.  is  found  what  appears  to  be  an  interpolation  or 
subsequent  addition  by  Giraldus  himself,  stating  that  some  asserted,  and 
some  denied,  that  this  letter  was  ever  obtained. —  Giraldus  Bolh  Strict, 
v..  318. 


400  EARLY   lEIRH   HISTORY. 

and  Strigul,  commonly  known  as  Strongbow.  ^3  Diarmaid 
came  to  terms  with  him,  promising  him  his  eldest  daughter  in 
marriage  and  the  succession  to  his  kingdom,  and  Strongbow,  on 
his  side,  promised  to  come  to  Diarmaid's  aid  with  a  military 
force  in  the  following  spring.  So  far  as  the  kingdom  was 
concerned,  Diarmaid's  promise  was  illusory  ;  the  succession  to 
it  was  not  Diarmaid's  to  bestow ;  he  obtained  it  himself 
by  election,  not  by  primogeniture,  and  the  clansmen  would 
surely  assert  their  undoubted  rights  when  the  throne  became 
vacant.  Moreover,  there  were  other  daughters,  and  there 
was  male  issue,  legitimate  and  illegitimate.  Conor,  the 
legitimate  son,  was  delivered  as  a  hostage  to  the  king  of 
Connacht  in  1169,  and  subsequently  put  to  death  by  him, 
and  Domhnall  Caevanagh,  Mac  Murchada,  an  illegitimate  son, 
is  described  by  the  Four  Masters  as  "  king  of  Leinster  in 
in  1175,  when  he  was  treacherously  slain."  u  Nor  is  it  quite 
clear  that  Eva  was  legitimate.  If  so  her  yoimger  sister  was 
married  before  her  to  O'Brien,  which  would  be  against  the 
invariable  usage  of  the  Gael. 

Strongbow,  however,  was  not  in  any  hurry  to  fulfil  his 
engagement.  Probably  he  could  not  induce  his  friends  and  re- 
tainers to  muster  courage  for  the  adventure,  He  also  wished 
to  obtain  the  special  licence  of  Henry  whom  he  petitioned  to 
restore  to  him  the  lands  he  had  forfeited  or  to  allow  him  to 
seek  his  fortune  in  Ireland.  Henry  gave  him  the  desired  per- 
mission.    Giraldus  tells  us  it  was  ironical  rather  than  serious.  1 5 

Strongbow  did  not  sail  from  Milford  Haven  for  Waterford 
until  August  23rd,  1 170.  In  the  meantime  Diarmaid  had 
secured  the  help  of  other  adventurers.  On  leaving  Bristol, 
he  journeyed  through  South  Wales  on  his  way  to  St.  David's 
whence  he  intended  to  sail  to  Wexford.  At  this 
time  Rhys  ap  Griffith,  the  son  of  Griffith  ap  Rhys,  and  the 
grandson  of  Rhys  ap  Tudor,  was  the  prince  of  a  considerable 
territory  in  South  Wales  under  Henry  II  with  whose  Justiciary 
Richard  De  Lacy,  he  had  some  time  before  arranged  terms 
of  peace.     His  aunt  Nesta,  the  daughter  of  Rhys  ap  Tudor, 

^3  The  castle  of  Strigul  was  at  or  near  Chep&tow  on  the  Wye.  Richard's 
father  had  been  created  Earl  of  Pembroke  by  Stephen  in  1138,  and  his  grand- 
father, it  is  said,  had  received  the  grant  of  Cardigan  from  Henry  I.,  which 
means  that  he  had  been  allowed  to  sieze  it  and  dispossess  Cadogan,  the 
Cymric  chieftain. 

"  F.  M.   1175,  and  0' Donovan. 

1*"  Accepta   igitur   quasi   licentia   ironica   raagis   quam   vera    Expug.    Hib 
I.,  c.  13. 


THE   CYilRO-FRANKISH  ADVENTURERS.  401 

had  been  the  mistress  of  Henry  I  ;  from  this  connection  came 
the  Fitzhenrys.  Afterwards  she  became  the  wife  of  Gerald 
of  Windsor,  Castellan  of  Pembroke  ;  from  this  union  came 
the  Fitzgeralds — three  sons  and  a  daughter  Angharad,  who  was 
married  to  William  de  Barri,  father  of  Giraldus  the  historian. 
David  the  youngest  son  was  then  Bishop  of  St.  David's. 
Thirdly  Nesta  was  married  to  Stephen,  Castellan  of  Abertivy 
in  Cardigan  to  whom  she  bore  Robert  Fitzstephen.^^ 

When  Diarmaid  arrived  at  St.  David's  he  was  treated 
with  great  kindness  by  the  Bishop  and  by  Gryffith  ap  Rhys. 
It  so  chanced  that  at  this  time  Robert  Fitzstephen  who  had 
been  kept  in  prison  for  three  years  by  his  cousin,  Gryffith 
ap  Rhys,  had  been  released  on  condition  that  he  would  join 
Gryffith  in  taking  up  arms  against  Henry  H.  It  was  now 
arranged  through  the  Bishop  of  St.  David's  and  Maurice 
Fitzgerald,  his  brother,  with  the  consent  of  Gryffith,  that 
Robert  Fitzstephen,  instead  of  taking  up  arms  against 
Henry  H.  should  join  his  brother  Maurice  in  fighting  to  restore 
Diarmaid  ;  that  they  should  cross  with  their  forces  in  the 
ensuing  spring  and  that  Diarmaid  should  grant  them  the 
town  of  Wexford  and  two  cantreds  of  land  to  hold  in  fee. 
The  town  and  land  were,  we  would  suggest,  then  in  the  pos- 
session of  the  Northmen.  Meantime  Diarmaid  sailed 
for  home,  and  entering  the  monastery  at  Ferns  was  hospitably 
received  by  the  Austin  canons,  and  spent  the  winter  there 
in  concealment.  When  the  spring  came  round  Fitzstephen 
mustered  30  men-at-arms  of  his  own  kindred  and  retainers, 
60  men  in  armour,  and  about  300  archers  and  foot  soldiers — 
the  flower  of  the  youth  of  Wales.  These  he  embarked  in  three 
ships  with  which  he  landed  at  Bannow  in  Wexford  about  the 
1st  May,  1 169.  Hervey  de  Mountmaurice,  an  uncle  of 
Strongbow,  joined  them  as  an  explorator,  to  observe  and 
report  to  him  the  state  of  affairs  in  Ireland.  Maurice  de 
Prendergast  also  arrived  the  following  spring  from  South  Wales 
with  10  men-at-arms  and  a  body  of  archers,  in  two  ships. 
By  this  time  the  whole  auxiliary  forces  would  probably  have 
reached  about  600  ;  they  were  joined  by  Diarmaid  with  500 
men,  and  the  combined  forces  attacked  Wexford.     The  first 

*^  We  abstain  from  considering  here,  as  unimportant  ior  our  pnrpose, 
whether  Nesta  was  married  to  Fitzstephen,  or  whether  it  was  befoBe  or  after 
her  marriage  with  Gerald  of  Windsor  she  became  mistress  of  Henry  II,  We 
present  merely  a  popular  view  and  have  not  investigated  the  matter. 

2D 


402  EARLY   IRISH   HISTORY. 

assault  was  repulsed,  but  on  the  following  day  two  Bishops 
who  were  in  the  town  made  peace,  and  the  townsmen 
submitted  to  Diarmaid  their  rightful  sovereign  and  gave 
him  hostages  for  their  fealty.  Large  numbers  now  joined 
him,  bringing  the  united  forces  up  to  about  3,000. 
These  forces  then  marched  into  Ossory.  Ossory  was  part  of 
the  territory  formerly  under  Diarmaid's  over-lordship,  and 
Donnchad,  the  chieftain,  had,  11  years  before,  captured  and 
blinded  his  eldest  son  Enna,  Rigdamna  of  Leinster.  The 
men  of  Ossory,  Giraldus  teUs  us,  made  a  stout  resistance, 
avaihng  themselves  of  the  shelter  of  woods  and  morasses. 
But  pursuing  the  enemy  into  the  open  they  were  charged  and 
cut  to  pieces  by  the  cavalry.  200  heads  were  cut  off  and  laid 
at  Diarmaid's  feet,  "  among  them  was  the  head  of  one  he 
mortally  hated,  and  taking  it  by  the  ears  and  hair  he  tore 
the  nostrils  and  lips  with  his  teeth."  We  mention  this  absurd 
story  as  it  is  often  quoted  by  English  writers,  who  forget 
that  the  credulous  author  of  the  story  "  saw  with  his  own 
eyes "  embryo  barnacle  geese  growing  like  limpets  on  the 
rocks  along  the  Irish  Coast.  The  story  told  by  Giraldus  is  not 
confirmed  by  any  other  author. 

The  king  of  Ossory  sued  for  peace  and  gave  hostages  to 
Diarmaid.  When  Ruadhri  O'Conor  was  apprised  of  these 
proceedings,  he  mustered  his  forces  and  invaded  Leinster. 
Fitzstephen  and  the  Leinster  men  did  not  venture  to  meet 
him  in  the  open,  but  retreated  to  a  strong  defensible  position 
near  Ferns.  Peace  was,  however,  made  without  fighting, 
and  on  these  conditions  :  Leinster  was  to  be  left  to  Diarmaid  • 
Ruadhri  was  to  be  acknowledged  as  Ard-righ  ;  Diarmaid 
was  to  give  his  son  Conor  as  hostage  to  Ruadhri,  who 
promised  that  should  peace  be  firmly  established,  he  would, 
in  the  course  of  time,  give  his  daughter  in  marriage  to  the 
young  prince.  These  conditions  were  publicly  proclaimed 
and  sworn  to.  There  was  also  a  secret  agreement  that 
Diarmaid  should  not  bring  in  any  more  foreigners,  and  should 
send  away  those  he  had  already  called  in  as  soon  as  he  had 
reduced  Leinster  to  a  state  of  order.  We  make  no  doubt 
that  Diarmaid  honestly  intended  to  carry  out  these  arrange- 
ments. It  was  clearly  his  interest  to  do  so  if  he  could,  as  the 
life  of  his  son  was  at  stake.  But  history  teaches  us,  by  many 
examp>3,  that  ^llie$  or  mercenaries  hke  those  with  Diarmaid 


THE   CYMRO-FRANKISH   ADVENTURERS. 


403 


begin  by  giving  help  and  advice  and  end  by  issuing  peremptory 
orders.  The  Cymro-Frankish  adventurers  had  come  to  stay, 
and  on  the  arrival  of  additional  contingents  under  Maurice 
Fitzgerald  (lo  men-at-arms,  30  mounted  archers,  100  bow- 
men on  foot,  in  two  ships)  in  1169,  and  under  Strongbow  in 
1170,17  Diarmaid  became  a  puppet  in  their  hands,  and 
they  determined  to  carve  out  kingdoms  for  themselves  in 
the  fairest  regions  of  Erin.  Giraldus  says,  that  Diarmaid 
wrote  to  Strongbow  in  a  poetical  strain  urging  him  to  come 
quickly.  We  may  be  certain  that  it  was  not  Diarmaid's 
letters,  if  such  were  ever  sent,  which  we  question,  but 
the  reports  of  Hervey  de  Mountmaurice  and  the  en- 
treaties of  the  other  leaders  that  influenced  his  decision.  He 
landed  near  Waterford  on  the  22nd  August,  1170.  The  city 
was  taken  with  great  slaughter,  but  the  captives  were  spared 
through  the  intervention  of  Diarmaid,  The  marriage  of 
Strongbow  and  Eva  was  then  celebrated,  according  to  the 
agreement. 

Before  sailing  for  Ireland  Strongbow  had  sent  forward 
Raymond  le  Gros,  son  of  William  Fitzgerald,  who  was  an 
elder  brother  of  Maurice  Fitzgerald.  Raymond  le  Gros  sailed 
with  10  men-at-arms  and  70  archers,  and  landed  at  Dun- 
donnell,  a  rocky  promontory  about  8  miles  from  Waterford. 
There  he  threw  up  a  slight  fortification  made  of  sods  and 
the  boughs  of  trees.  The  citizens,  mostly  Northmen,  promptly 
advanced  from  the  city  to  attack  him,  but  though  superior 
in  numbers  they  were  repulsed  with  great  loss.  Seventy 
were  taken  prisoners.  "  Then  the  victors  abused  their 
great  good  fortune  by  detestable  counsels  and  inhuman 
cruelty."  This  was,  Giraldus  is  careful  to  mention,  at  the 
instigation  of  Hervey  de  Mountmaurice  and  against  the 
vehement  protest  of  his  cousin  Raymond  le  Gros.  "  Of  two 
things,"  urged  Hervey  de  Mountmaurice,  "  we  must  choose 
one,  we  must  either  resolutely  accomplish  what  we  have 
undertaken,  and  stifling  all  emotions  of  pity  utterly  subjugate 


17 


Robert  Fitzstephen 
Maurice  de  Prendergast 
Maurice  Fitzgerald 
Raymond  le  Groa 
Strongbow 


3  ships. 

390  men. 

0 

2  :: 
? 

200  (?)  „ 

140       „ 

70       „ 

1,200       „ 

Total 

2,000 

404  EARLY   IRISH   HISTORY. 

this  rebellious  nation,  by  the  strong  hand,  or  indulging  in 
deeds  of  mercy,  as  Raymond  proposes,  sail  homeward." 
He  adds  "  Hervey's  opinion  was  approved  by  his  comrades 
and  the  wretched  captives  had  their  limbs  broken  and  were 
cast  headlong  into  the  sea."  ^^ 

Strongbow,  on  leaving  Waterford,  marched  to  Dublin. 
Hasculf  was  the  king  of  the  Norse  there.  The  Archbishop, 
Saint  Laurence  O'Toole,  obtained  a  truce  that  terms  of  peace 
might    be    settled.  "  Notwithstanding  this,  Raymond  on 

one  side  of  the  city  and  Milo  de  Cogan  on  the  other  rushed 
to  the  walls  with  bands  of  youths,  and  making  a  resolute 
assault  got  possession  of  the  place  with  great  slaughter  of  the 
citizens."  Hasculf  and  the  rest  escaped  to  their  ships,  and 
sailed  to  the  northern  islands.  After  spending  a  few  days 
in  Dublin  Strongbow  invaded  Meath  and  laid  waste  the  whole 
territory  with  fire  and  sword.  O'Conor  then  put  Diarmaid's 
son  to  death.  So  far  Giraldus.  The  entry  in  the  Four 
Masters    runs  : — 

1170,  A.D.,  an  army  was  laid  by  Mac  Murchadha,  with  his 
men-at-arms  (ri-oitieA-oAib)  into  Meath  and  Breffni,  and  they 
plundered  Clonard,  Kells,  Tailltin,  Dowth,  Slane,  Dulane,  Kilskeery 
and  Castle  Kieran,  and  they  afterwards  made  a  predatory  incursion 
into  Tir  Briuin,  and  carried  off  many  persons  and  cows  to  their 
camp.  The  hostages  of  Diarmaid  were  put  to  death  by  Ruadhri 
O'Conor  at  Athlone,  namely  Conchobar  the  son  of  Diarmaid,  the 
Rigdamna  of  Leinster,  and  his  grandson,  i.e.,  the  son  of  Domhnall 
Caemhanach,  and  the  son  of  his  foster-brother,  i.e.,  O'Caellaighe. 
1171  A.D.  Diarmaid  Mac  Murchadha,  king  of  Leinster,  by  whom 
a  trembling  sod  was  made  of  all  Ireland,  after  bringing  over  the 
Saxons,  after  having  done  extensive  injury  to  the  Gael,  after 
plundering  and  burning  many  churches  as  Kells,  Clonard,  etc., 
died  at  Ferns  before  the  end  of  a  year,  after  this  plundering,  by  an 
insufferable  and  unknown  disease,  through  the  miracles  of  God, 
Colomba,  and  Finnan,  whose  churches  he  had  profaned  som® 
time  before,  without  will,  without  Penance,  without  the  Body  of 
Christ  as  his  evil  deeds  deserved. 

If  this  be  true,  Diarmaid  was  very  badly  treated  by  the 
Church  to  which  he  had  been  a  munificent  friend,  but  it  is 
not  true.  The  Book  of  Leinster,  which  is  a  better  authority, 
states  that,  he  died  at  Ferns  "  after  the  victory  of  Unction 
and  Penance."  This,  we  have  no  doubt,  is  the  truth.  We  do 
not  present  Diarmaid  to  our  readers  as  a  hero ;  but  historical 

18  Expng.  Hih.  I.,  C,   XIII. 


THE  CYMRO-FRANKISH  ADVENTUREns.  405 

justice,    weighing    the    facts    dispassionately,    demands    that 
he  should  not  be  made  a  scapegoat. ^9 

We  must  now  return  to  the  illaudable  Laudahiliter.  An 
examination  of  this  script  reveals  at  once  to  the  trained 
eye  the  practised  hand  of  one  who  had  completely 
mastered  the  technicalities  of  the  suppressio  vcri,  and  come 
perilously  near  the  asscrtio  falsi.  The  object  he  had  in  view 
was  to  make  it  appear  to  the  Irish  that  there  was  no  derogation 
from  their  rights.  This  he  accomplished  by  using  dominant 
words  that  lend  themselves  to  two  interpretations  ;  the  words 
jus  and  Dominus.  The  statement  in  the  text  that  all  islands 
which  have  received  the  teachings  of  the  Christian  religion 
belong  to  the  jus  of  the  Blessed  Peter  may  mean  (a)  belong 
to  the  jus  ecclesiasticum  or  spirituale,  i.e.,  to  the  ecclesiastical 
or  spiritual  jurisdiction  of  the  Church  of  Rome  ;  or  (&)  belong 
to  the  jus  proprium  or  temporale,  i.e.,  to  the  proprietary  or 
temporal  jurisdiction  of  the  Church.  We  have  had  the 
curiosity  to  look  into  some  modern  translations  and  we  find 
that  Cardinal  Moran  amongst  others  translates  the  passage 
"  All  the  islands  which  have  received  the  knowledge  of  the 
christian  faith  are  subject  to  the  authority  of  St.  Peter  and 
of  the  Most  Holy  Roman  Church  "  i.e.,  to  the  ecclesiastical 
jurisdiction.  On  the  other  hand,  Rev.  William  Morris  and 
many  others,  translate  the  passage  "  All  islands  which  have 
received  the  traditions  of  the  Christian  church  belong  to 
Saint  Peter  and  the  most  Holy  Roman  Church  "  i.e.,  the 
proprietary  jurisdiction.  20  Xhe  latter  is  the  sense  in 
which  it  has  been  understood  in  subsequent  official  docu- 
ments. 

The  word  dominus  may  mean  either  {a)  title  of  respect, 
or  of  office  like  the  missi  dominici  of  Charlemagne,  or  {h)  the 
feudal  owner  of  the  dominium,  i.e.,  the  demesne  in  fee  of  the 
lands.  In  official  documents,  v.g.,  in  many  letters  in  Theiner, 
England  is  referred  to  as  the  kingdom  (regnum),  and  Hibernia 
as  the  lands  (terra)  or  dominium  of  the  dominus  or  lord.  It  was 
probably  by  the  same  draughtsman  that  the  celebrated  letter  in 
1 157  of  Adrian  IV.  to  Frederick  Barbarossa  and  the  German 

^^  "-Aec  1  peftiA  1<^|1  mbudit)  onjcA  oeuf  AtVijuji."  The  Book  of  Leinster  is 
not  mentioned  in  the  List  of  Books  from  which  the  Four  Masters  composed  the 
Annals. 

=0  7r.    Ecd.    Rec,    1872,    Nov.;     Burke,    Rev,   T,,    Lectures,   225;    Morris, 
B.er.   W.,  Iridund  and  St.  Pat  rick,   122. 


406  EARLY   IRISH  HISTORY. 

Bishops  was  composed.  Frederick  held  a  diet  of  great  magnifi- 
cence at  Besangon  in  that  year.  Hither  went  Cardinal  Roland, 
afterwards  Alexander  III.,  then  Chancellor  to  Adrian  IV., 
with  another  envoy,  to  present  the  letter.  They  were  received 
in  public  audience.  Roland  read  the  letter  which  referred 
to  the  beneficia  conferred  by  the  Pope  on  Frederick  who  had 
been  recently  crowned ;  the  word  had  two  meanings  (i) 
benefits  (2)  a  technical  meaning  in  feudal  usage,  i.e.,  fiefs, 
The  German  Magnates  understood  it  in  the  feudal  sense 
and  when  the  Cardinal  pronounced  it  they  sprang  to  their 
feet  and  half  drew  their  swords.  One  of  them,  Otho,  faced 
Roland  and  demanded  whether  he  meant  that  Frederick  held 
his  empire  as  a  fief  of  Adrian.  Undaunted  Roland  answered. 
"  And  of  whom  then  does  he  hold  it  if  not  of  our  Lord 
the  Pope  ?  "  Otho  then  drew  his  sword  and  was  about  to 
cut  him  down,  when  Frederick  interposed.  The  Pope  after- 
wards explained  that  beneficimn  meant  hene  factum,  a  good 
deed  or  benefit,  and  that  it  was  not  used  in  the  feudal  sense, 
in  the  letter.21 

The  three  letters  of  Alexander  III  in  the  Liher  Scacarii 
correspond  in  substance  with  the  Laudahiliter.  They  are 
addressed  to  Henry  II.  the  bishops,  and  the  kings  and  chief- 
tains of  Ireland  respectively,  and  are  dated  September  20th, 
1 172.  The  letter  addressed  to  Henry  congratulates  him  on 
his  success.  It  contains  the  notable  words  "  the  Church 
of  Rome  has  a  different /z^i-  in  the  case  of  islands  from  what 
H  has  in  the  case  of  a  continent."  22 

Urban  II,  in  1091  in  the  grant  already  referred  to, 
deduced  the  right  of  Constantine  to  give  away  islands  frora 
the  strange  principle  that  all  islands  were  legally  juri^ 
puhlici,  and,  therefore,  State  domains,  "and  so  when  they 
receive  the  Christian  faith  they  would  come  under  both  rights  " 
the  jus  spirituale  and  jus  proprium.  He  uses  the  words, 
not  in  jus,  but  in  jus  proprium  condonatae.  So  too. 
Innocent  III,  in  1213  in  his  letter  of  acceptance,  states  that 

'1  The  words  were  "  si  majora  beneficia  excellentia  tua  de  manu  nostra 
suscepisset."  Adrian's  explanation  ia  "  Hoc  enini  nomen  (i.e.,  beueficium) 
ex  bono  et  facto  est  editum,  et  dicitur  beneficium  apud  nos,  non  feudum  sed 
bonum  factum."  Migne  188,  p.  1526  (1st  letter),  Migne  188,  p.  1555  (2nd 
letter). 

'*  Romana  ecclesia  aliud  jus  habet  in  insula  quam  in  terra  magna  et 
continua."  The  three  letters  of  Alexander  III,  are  given  in  Migne  200, 
D.   113. 


THE   CYMRO-FRANKISH   ADVENTURERS.  407 

John  with  the  consent  of  the  English  barons  had  given  over 
his  realm  to  the  Pope  "in  jus  et  proprietatem" — Rymer  I. 
117. 

There  is  no  reference  to  tlie  Donation  of  Adrian  in  any 
of  these  letters,  nor  should  we  expect  to  find  any  if  we  assume 
that  Adrian's  Donation  had  been  previously  confirmed,  as 
we  suggest  it  had  been. 

There  is  also  a  letter  of  Adrian  IV.  written  about  the 
beginning  of  1159  to  Louis  VII,  of  France,  the  language  of 
which  corresponds  very  closely  in  parts  with  the  Laudahiliter, 
and  it  has  been  suggested  that  any  draughtsman  having  that 
letter  before  him  might  concoct  the  Laudabilitey.  We  very 
much  doubt  this,  and  we  think  that  it  is  very  much  more 
probable  that  it  was  composed  by  the  person  who  wrote  the 
letter  to  Louis  VII.  and  the  letters  of  Alexander  III.,  and 
may  have  been  prepared,  but  not  issued,  in  the  lifetime  of 
Adrian   IV.  23 

In  our  judgment  there  is  ample  evidence  to  prove  the 
Donation  of  Adrian  IV.  putting  aside  altogether  the 
Laudahiliter,  the  confirmation  of  Alexander,  and  the  three 
letters  in  the  Liher  Scacarii.  Bishop  Creighton  considered 
the  statement  of  John  of  Salisbury  alone  sufficient  and  un- 
answerable. Henry  would  never  have  gone  to  the  expense 
of  a  military  expedition  to  Ireland  without  a  clear  hereditary 
title  from  the  Pope  who  claimed  to  be  over-lord  of  it,  and 
his  title  founded  on  the  Donation  is  referred  to  in  official  docu- 
ments and  otherwise,  century  after  century. 

In  the  chronicle  of  Robert  of  Torigny  ( + 1 1 84-1 186)  we  find  an 
entry  that  at  a  council  held  at  Winchester  at  Michaelmas 
1 165,  the  question  of  conquering  Ireland,  and  giving  it  to 
Henry's  brother,  William,  was  considered  "  and  because  it 
was  not  pleasing  to  the  Empress  his  mother,  the  expedition 
was  put  off  for  another  time."  Could  there  be  any  reasonable 
doubt  that  the  deliberation  was  connected  with  the  receipt 
of  the  emerald  ring?  Henry,  who  was  then  only  22,  had  to 
reduce  his  own  kingdom    to   subjection    before    thinking    of 

^'  The  texts  of  the  letter  to  Louis  VII.  and  of  the  Laudahiliter  are  compared 
in  parallel  columns  in  the  Annalecta  Juris  Pontificii,  1882.  The  names  of 
the  numerous  writers  for  and  against  the  genuineness  of  the  Laudahiliter 
will  be  found  in  Mr.  Thatcher's  Studies  Concerning  Adrian  /F.,  Chicago 
Decern.  Pub.,  Volume  IV.,  First  Series.  He  follows  the  valuable 
article  of  Boichorst  in  Mitheilungen  der  Instuiut.  fur  Oesterreich.  Oeschiehte, 
1893,  p.  101.     He  does  not  refer  to  the  text  in  the  Book  of  Leinsier. 


408  3EARLY  IRISH  HISTORY. 

foreign  conquests,  and  the  excuse  was  diplomatically  correct 
and  probably   true. 

In  the  year  1318  {1317  ?)  Donald  O'Neil  "  King  of 
Ulster  and  of  all  Ireland,  the  rightful  heir  by  hereditary 
right,  and  the  kings  and  magnates  and  the  whole  laity  " 
sent  to  Pope  John  XXII,  a  letter  of  appeal  and  protest. 24 
It  is  a  very  long  document,  we  can  only  present  our  readers 
extracts  condensed  from  it. 

After  stating  that  there  were  136  kings  before  the  coming 
of  St.  Patrick  and  61  subsequently,  who  in  temporals 
acknowledged  no  superior,  all  of  the  same  stock,  without 
any  mixture  of  foreign  blood,  who  richly  endowed  the  church 
with  landed  and  other  property  of  great  extent  and  value, 
of  much  of  which  the  Church  had  been  "  damnably  despoiled  " 
by  the  English,  it  proceeds, — 

And  after  that  the  kings  aforesaid  had  had  for  so  long  a  time 
by  their  own  efforts  energetically  defended  against  the  princes 
and  kings  of  other  countries  the  inheritance  granted  them  by  God, 
always  preserving  inviolate  their  native  liberty,  at  length  your 
predecessor,  Pope  Adrian  (an  Englishman  not  so  much  by  origin 
as  by  his  state  in  life  and  affection)  in  the  year  of  Our  Lord  1170 
upon  the  representations  false  and  full  of  iniquity  of  Henry. 
King  of  England  (under  whom,  and  perhaps,  through  whom 
St.  Thomas  of  Canterbury  in  the  same  year  suffered  death,  as 
you  know,  in  defence  of  Justice  and  the  Church),  made  over  de 
facto  the  lordship  of  this  kingdom  of  ours  in  a  specific  form  of  words 
to  the  same  (king),  whom  rather  for  the  crime  aforesaid  he  ought 
to  have  deprived  of  his  own  kingdom.  Our  rights  de  jure  were 
utterly  disregarded  ;  his  leaning  to  the  English — Ah  the  grief  of  it — 
blinding  the  vision  of  the  great  Pontiff,  and  thus  taking  away  from 
us  our  royal  honour  without  any  culpability  on  our  part,  and  with- 
out any  reasonable  cause  he  delivered  us  over  to  be  lacerated  by 
teeth  more  cruel  than  those  of  wild  beasts,  and  those  of  us  who 
have  unhappily  escaped  half-alive  with  torn  flesh,  the  teeth  of  these 
crafty  foxes  and  ravening  wolves  have  been  forced  down  into  the 
abyss  of  a  lamentable  servitude.  For  ever  since  that  time  when 
the  English,  on  the  occasion  of  the  grant  aforesaid,  and  under 
an  outward  appearance  of  holiness  and  religion,  nefariously  entered 
the  borders  of  our  kingdom  they  have  been  striving  with  all  their 
might,  using  all  the  arts  of  perfidy  to  completely  exterminate 
and  tear  up  from  the  roots  our  people  ;  mendaciously  asserting 

'*  Johannes  de  Fordun  Scotichronicon  III.,  908  (condensed).  A  brief  notice 
of  this  letter  will  be  found  in  the  Continuator  of  Baronius    sub  anno  1.317. 

The  Scotichronicon  was  commenced  by  John  of  Fordun  in  the  Mearns 
and  completed  to  the  death  cvf  David  I.,  115.3.  Before  dying  he  gave  his 
collected  materials  to  Walter  Bower,  Abbot  of  Inch  Colum,  on  a  little  island 
in  the  Forth,  who  continued  the  History  to  the  murder  of  James  I.  in  143(5. 

The  years  in  the  text  are  probably  reckoned  from  the  Incarnation,  as  m  the 
^ymals  of  Ulster. 


THE  CYMRO-FRANEISH  ADVENTURERS.  409 

in  the  depth  of  their  fury  that  we  have  no  right  to  any  free 
dwelUng-place  in  Ireland,  but  that  the  whole  country  belongs  of 
right  to  themselves  alone.  More  than  50,000  have  perished  in 
the  wars  since  the  coming  of  Henry,  besides  those  who 
have  died  from  hunger  or  in  dungeons.  Now  Henry  promised, 
as  is  contained  in  the  said  Bull,  that  he  would  extend  the  boundaries 
of  the  Church,  etc.  (here  follow  the  words  of  the  Laiidahiliter). 
This  promise  has  been  violated  in  every  instance.  Some 
cathedral  churches  have  been  plundered  of  a  moiety  and  more 
of  their  land  ;  our  bishops  are  seized  and  imprisoned,  yet  though 
suffering  these  outrages,  constantly  through  slavish  timidity  they 
do  not  bring  them  before  your  Holiness.  So  we  shall  be  silent  about 
them.  Instead  of  reforming  they  have  corrupted  the  Irish  by 
their  bad  example,  and  deprived  them  of  their  laws  (specific 
cases  are  here  mentioned).  Killing  an  Irishman  is  not  murder, 
and  some  of  their  religious  assert  that  it  is  no  more  sin  to  kill  an 
Irishman  than  to  kill  a  dog  or  any  other  brute  animal.  And  some 
of  their  monks  affirm  that  if  it  should  happen  to  them  to  kill  an 
Irishman  they  would  not  for  this  refrain  from  the  celebration  of 
Mass  for  a  single  day.  Accordingly  what  they  preach  in  words 
the  monks  of  the  Cistercian  Order  at  Granard,  in  the  diocese  of 
Armagh,  undoubtedly  put  shamelessly  in  practice  in  deed. 
And  likewise  the  monks  of  the  same  Order  at  Inch,  in  the  Diocese 
of  Down.  For,  appearing  publicly  in  arms  they  attack  and  slay 
the  Irish,  and  yet  celebrate  their  Masses  nothwithstanding. 
They  {i.e.,  the  Anglo-Normans)  affirm  that  it  is  lawful  for  them 
to  take  from  us  by  force  of  arms  our  lands  and  property  of  every 
kind,  not  considering  this  anything  to  trouble  their  con- 
sciences even  at  the  hour  of  death.  It  is  those  people,  who  by  their 
crafty,  deceitful  scheming  have  alienated  us  from  the  kings  of 
England,  hindering  us,  to  the  great  injury  of  the  king  and  kingdom, 
from  holding  the  lands  rightfully  ours  in  capite  willingly  from 
them,  and  sowing  between  ourselves  and  these  monarchs  undying 
discord  in  their  unbridled  lust  for  our  territories.  The  yearly 
denarius  from  each  house  has  not,  as  everyone  knows,  been  paid. 
We  sent  forward  a  letter  describing  these  outrages  and  abomin- 
ations aforesaid  to  the  king  of  England  and  his  Council  through 
the  Bishop  of  Ely,  and  made  a  courteous  proposal  that  we  should 
hold  our  lands  immediately  from  the  king  in  capite,  according  to  the 
conditions  in  the  Bull  of  Adrian  a  full  transcript  of  which  we  transmit 
herewith  ;  or  that  he  should,  with  the  consent  of  both  parties, 
divide  our  lands  according  to  some  reasonable  plan  between  us, 
and  thus  avoid  wholesale  bloodshed.  We  have  however,  received 
no  answer  to  this  application.  Let  no  man  then  be  surprised  if 
we  are  determined  to  save  our  lives  and  defend  the  privileges  of 
our  independence  against  these  cruel  tyrants  and  usurpers  of 
our  rights.  We  are  ready  to  prove  our  statement  by  the  evi- 
dence of  twelve  Bishops  and  others  and  have  invited  Edward 
Bruce  to  our  aid  and  assistance.^S 

25  John  XXII.  was  enthroned  September  5,  1316.  At  Avignon  on  April 
1st,  1317,  by  authority  of  Letters  Patent  of  Edward  II.,  dated  Septeniber  16, 
1316,  the  King's  envoys,  after  st-ating  that  they  had  paid  the  cess  of  1,000  marks 


410  EARLY   IRISH   HISTORY. 

On  the  30th  May,  13 18  the  Pope  wrote  from  Avignon, 
a  letter  of  paternal  advice  to  Henry  urging  him  to  redress 
the  grievances  complained  of,  "  that  so  the  Irish  people 
following  more  wholesome  counsels  may  render  you  the 
obedience  due  to  their  dominus,  or  if,  which  heaven  forbid, 
they  shall  be  disposed  to  persist  in  their  foolish  rebellion  they 
may  convert  their  cause  into  a  matter  of  open  injustice, 
while  you  stand  excused  before  God  and  man."  He  enclosed 
the  letter  of  king  Donald  O'Neil,  and  the  copy  of  "  the  grant 
which  Pope  Adrian  is  said  to  have  made  to  Henry,  that  he 
might  be  satisfactorily  enlightened  on  the  aforesaid 
grievances  and  complaints."  26 

By  an  x\ct  of  Parliament,  in  1467,  after  reciting 
that  "  as  our  Holy  Father  Adrian,  Pope  of  Rome,  was 
possessed  of  all  the  sovereignty  of  Ireland  in  his  demesne 
as  of  fee,  in  right  of  his  Church  of  Rome,  and  with  the  intent 
that  vice  should  be  subdued,  had  alienated  the  said  land 
to  the  king  of  England  for  a  certain  rent,  etc.,  by  which  grant 
the  said  subjects  of  Ireland  owe  their  allegiance  to  the  king 
of  England  as  their  sovereign  lord,  as  by  the  said  Bull 
appears,"  it  was  enacted  "  that  all  Archbishops  and  Bishops  shall 

for  that  year,  acknowledged  themselves  bound  to  pay  on  his  behalf  twenty-four 
years'  arrears  of  said  cess  (i.e.,  one-fourth  of  27,000  marks)  by  four  instal- 
ments.—  Theiner,  193.  Secreta,  torn.  11.,  fol.  161.  In  the  Holl  Series,  p.  443, 
it  is  inaccurately  stated  that  the  envoys  were  sent  to  pray  the  Pope  to  forego 
the  payment  of  the  arrears  ;  it  should  be  "  to  excuse  the  non-payment  of 
them." 

On  lOth  April  I3I7  a  mandate  waa  issued  to  judges  not  named  to  warn 
brethren  of  the  Mendicant  Orders,  Rectors,  Vicars,  and  Chaplains  who  had 
stirred  up  the  Irish  people  against  the  king,  and  unless  they  ceased  to 
excommunicate  them  publicly. —  Theiner,  194.  Papal  Letters,  Bolls  Series 
ri.,  435. 

2«  Joannes  Episcopu3  etc,  Eduardo  Regi  Anglise  illustri  Ecce  fili,  quasdam 
recepimus  letteras.  .  .  in  quorum  serie  vidimus  inter  cetera  contineri 
quod  cum  felicis  recordationis  Adrianus  Papa,  predecessor  noster  sub  certis 
modo  et  forma  distinctis,  apertius  in  apostolicis  litteris  inde  factis  clare 
memorie  Henrico  regi  Anglise  progenitori  tuo  dominium  Yberniae  concessit, 
ipse  rex  et  successores  ipsius  regis  Angliae  usque  ad  haeo  tempora  modum  et 
formam  hujusmodi  non  servantes,  quin  immo  eos  transgredientes,  indebite 
diris  affliotionibus  et  gravaminibus  inauditis  importabilium  servitutura 
oneribus  et  tyrannidibus  inhumania  ipsos  eo  miserabilius  et  irrtolerabiliua 
quo  diutius  oppresserunt. 

Prescriptas  litteras  missas  Cardinalibus  antedictis  cum  anima  (sic)  formam 
litterarum  quae  praedictus  Adrianus  predecessor  noster  eidem  Henrico  regi 
AnglisB  de  terra  Yberniae  concessisse  dicitur  continente  tuae  magnitudini 
mittimus  presentibus  interclusas.  Datum  Avinione  III.,  Kal.  Junii,  Ponti- 
ficatua  nostri  anno  secundo. 

Cum  anima  should,  we  suggest,  read  cum  agnina  (pelle)  "  with  a  fina 
(lambskin)  parchment."  The  editor  of  the  Rolls  Series  (Ed.  II.,  a.d.  318) 
translates,  "  in  a  case." 

See  Theiner  Mon.  Hib.,  p.  201.     Rolls  Series.     Papal  Letters  II.,  440. 


THE  CYMRO-FRANKISH   ADVENTURERS.  411 

excommunicate  all  disobedient  Irish  subjects,  and,  if  they 
neglect  to  do  so,  they  shall  forfeit  £ioo."  27 

In  1555,  by  a  consistorial  decree  followed  by  a  Bull, 
Paul  IV.  on  the  humble  supplication  of  Philip  and  Mary 
"  erected  into  a  kingdom  the  island  Hibernia,  of  which 
from  the  time  that  the  kings  of  England  obtained  the 
dominium  of  it  through  the  Apostolic  See  they  had  merely 
called  themselves  lords  (domini),  without  prejudice  to  the 
rights  of  the  Holy  Roman  Church  or  any  other  person  claiming 
to  have  right  in  it  or  to  it."  ^8 

The  Bull  then  confers  the  Royal  title  and  attributes. 
This  did  not  displace  the  over-lordship  of  Rome,  if  it  existed. 
The  Bull  was  delivered  by  the  English  Council  to  Dr.  Carey  ; 
and  copies  of  it  were  circulated  through  Ireland,  as  the  Irish 
asserted  that  the  Donation  from  Adrian  was  forfeited 
by  Henry  VIII.  and  his  son  Edward  VI.,  when  they  renounced 
the  Pope's  spiritual  and  temporal  authority.  The  Donation, 
it  forfeited,  was  in  this  way  restored  to  its  pristine  efficacy. 
In  1570  the  Irish,  through  the  Archbishop  of  Cashel,  had 
offered  or  were  about  to  offer  the  kingship  to  Philip  of 
Spain.  This  project  was  communicated  to  the  Pope  by 
Cardinal  Alciato,  who  wrote  to  the  Archbishop  of  Cashel, 
on  July  22nd,  1570 :  "  His  Holiness  was  astonished  that 
anything  of  this  kind  should  be  attempted  without  his 
authority,  since  it  was  easy  to  remember  that  the  kingdom 
of  Ireland  belonged  to  the  dominion  of  the  Church,  was  held 
as  a  fief  under  it  (ad  eclesiae  ditionem  feudi  nomine  pertinere), 
and  could  not,  therefore,  unless  by  the  Pope,  be  subjected 
to  any  new  ruler.  And  the  Pope,  that  the  right  of  the  Church 
may  be  preserved  as  it  should  be,  says,  he  will  not  give  the  letters 
you  ask  for  the  king  of  Spain  (Philip).  But  if  the  king  were 
himself  to  ask  for  the  fief  of  that  kingdom,  in  my  opinion  the 
Pope  would  not  refuse."  29 

The  instructions  to  Rinnuccini,  mentioned  that  Ireland 
was  an  ancient  possession  of  the  Holy  See,  and  that  Henry  II. 
obtained  from  Adrian  IV.,  himself  an  Englishman,  with  a 

«T  Parliament  Roll  7th  E.  IV.  (1467).  The  oldest  Roll  now  in  existence  is 
one  of  the  5th  H.  VI.  (U26).  Hardiman  Stat,  of  Kilkenni/,  p.  3, -punts  the 
text  of  this  statute. 

28  Btdlarium  I.,  Part  V.,  p.  315  ;  Baronius  (Continuaior),  Vol.  20,  p.  301  ; 
Lingard,   Vol.   V.,  461. 

"  Specil.  Ossor.,  I.,  69.     Ed.  Moran  P.  (Cardinal). 


412  EARLY   IRISH   HISTORY. 

liberal  hand  all  that  he  coveted. 3o        We   forbear   reference 
to  documents  of  minor  importance. 

"  What  is  extraordinary,"  says  Edmund  Burke,  "  is  that 
for  a  very  long  time,  even  quite  down  to  the  Reformation, 
and  in  the  most  solemn  acts,  the  people  of  England  founded 
their  title  wholly  on  this  grant  (from  Adrian).  They  called 
for  obedience  from  the  people  of  Ireland  not  on  principles  of 
subjection,  but  as  mesne  lords  between  them  and  the 
Pope.  "  31 

In  conclusion  there  is,  in  our  judgment,  no  controverted 
matter  in  history  on  which  the  weight  of  evidence  inclines  more 
decisively  to  one  side  than  on  this  of  Adrian's  Donation.  We 
have  assigned  the  Weltpolitik  of  Rome  as  the  main  motive 
for  this  grant.  We  must  not,  however,  be  understood  to 
exclude  motives  of  a  spiritual  order.  Eugenius  III.,  Adrian 
IV.,  Alexander  III.,  and  St.  Bernard  were,  beyond  all  doubt, 
influenced  by  considerations  of  the  latter  kind.  The  three 
letters  of  Alexander  in  the  Liher  Scacarii,  the  authenticity 
of  which  is  not  questioned,  as  well  as  the  Laudahiliter,  which 
is  written  in  the  same  spirit,  prove  this  conclusively.  But 
when  the  implications  contained  in  these  scripts  are  unfolded, 
and  the  statements  evolved  confronted  with  the  actual  facts, 
it  would  be  wholly  inadequate  to  describe  them  as  merely 
gross   exaggerations. 

Rome  distracted  with  internal  troubles  was  misinformed 
and  ill-advised,  and  the  Gael,  \yho  deserved  a  better  fate, 
were  delivered  into  the  hands  of  ruthless  and  rapacious 
adventurers. 

^Embassy  in  Ireland.     Annio  Hutton  (IS73),  p.  xxviiij 
3*  Tracts  on  the  Popery  Laws. 


[    413    ] 


APPENDIX. 


LIST  OF  THE  HIGH  KINGS  OF  ERIN.     D^te  of 

Accession. 
B.C. 

1.  Eremon  AND  Ebeb            ...               ...  ...  ...  1700 

2.  Er.  MUIGHNE,  LUIGIINE  AND  LaIGIINE  ...  ...  1683 

3.  Eb.  NuadhatNeacht  ...              ...  ...  ...  1681 

4.  Er.  Irial  Faidh             ...             ...  ...  ...  1680 

5.  Er.  Ethreal  ...             ...             ...  ...  ...  1670 

6.  Eb.  Conmael  ...             ...             ...  ...  ...  1650 

7.  Eb.  Tighernmas  reigned  77  years.      Interregnum  of  7 

years      ...              ...              ...  ...  ...  1620 

8.  Itii.  Eocaidh  Eadghadiiach        ...  ...  ...  l.f)36 

9;  Ir.  Sobhaerce  and  Cearmna  Finn  ...  ...  1532 

10.  Eb.  EocaiduFaebharghlas          ...  ...  ...  1492 

11.  Er.  Fiacha  Labhrainne               ...  ...  ...  1472 

12.  Eb.  Eocaidh  Mumhno   ...             ...  ...  ...  1448 

13.  Er.  Aengus  Olmucadha               ...  ...  ...  1427 

14.  Eb.  EnnA  AlRGTHEACH   ...               ...  ...  ...  1409 

15.  Er.  Roitheachtaigh     ...             ...  ...  ...  1382 

16.  Ir.  Sedna        ...             ...             ...  ...  ...  1357 

17.  Ir.  Fiacha  Finscothacu               ...  ...  ...  1352 

18.  Eb.  MuiNEMHON             ...             ...  ...  ...  1332 

19.  Eb.  Faeldeargdoid        ...             ...  ...  ...  1327 

20.  Ir.  Ollamh  Fodula       ...             ...  ...  ...  1317 

21.  Ir.  Finnachta               ...             ...  ...  ..,  1277 

22.  Ir.  Slanoll     ...             ...             ...  ...  ...  1257 

23.  Ir.  Gedhe  Ollghothach              ...  ...  ...  1240 

24.  Ir.  Fiacha  Finnailches                ...  ...  ...  1230 

25.  Ir.  Bearnghal               ...             ...  ...  ...  1208 

26.  Ir.  Oilioll      ...            ...            ...  ...  ...  1196 

27.  Er.Sirna  Saeglach  reigned  150  3-ears!  ...  ...  nSO 

28.  Eb.  Roitheachtaigh      ...              ...  ...  ...  1030 

29.  Eb.  Elim  Oilfinshneachta           ...  ...  ...  1023 

Note — Er.  =  Eremonian,  Eb.  =  Eberean.  Ir.  =  Irian,  Ith.,  Ithian.  Joint 

reigns  are  reckoned  as  one.      A.M.  3r<00  is  deemed  —  1.700  b.c. 


414 


APPENDIX. 


30.  Er.  Giallchaddh 

31.  Eb.  Art  Imleach 

32.    Er.  NUADHAT  FiNNFAIL  ... 

33.  Eb.  Breas 

34.  Ith.  EoCAEDH  Apthach  ... 

OOt    AR.  X INN  ..•  ...  ■•*  ... 

36.  Eb.  Sedna  Innarradgh  ... 

37.  Er.  Simon  Breac 

38.  Eb.  DuACH  Finn 

39.  Er.  MUIREDBACH  BOLGRACII 

40.  Eb.  Enda  Dearg 

41.  Eb.  Luqhaidh  Iardonn 

42.  Ir.  Sirlamh     ... 

43.  Eb.  EochaidhUaircheas 

44.  Er.  Eocaidh  Feadhmuine  and  Conainq 

45.  Eb.  LuGHAiDH  Laimhdhearq 

46.  Er.  CoNAiNG    ... 

47.  Eb.  Art 

48.  Er.  FlACHA  TOLQRACH     ... 

49.  Eb.  OiLioLL  Finn  ...  ...  ... 

50.  Eb.  EocHAiDH  ... 

51.  Ir.  Airgeatmhab 

52.  Er.  DuACH  Ladhgrach  ... 

53.  Eb.  LuGHAiDH  Laighdhe 

54.  Ir.  Aedh  Ruadh,    Dithorba,   and  Cinnbaeth 

nately  70  years     ... 

55.  Ir.  Queen  Macha  Mongruadh     ... 

56.  Eb.  PwEachtaidh  Righdhearq 

57.  Er.  Ugaine  MoR 

58.  Er.  Laeghaire  LoRc     ...  ... 

59.  Er.  CoBHTHACH  Gael  BuEAGH 

60.  Er.  Labhraidh  LoiNGSEACH 

61.  Ek.  Melghb  Molbhthach 

62.  Eb.  MoDHCORB 

63.  Er.  Aenghus  Ollamh    ... 

64.  Er.  Irereo 

65.  Eb.  Fearcorb  .. 

66.  Er.  CoiNLA  Gaemh 

67.  Er.  OiLioLL  Gaisfhiaclajh 

68.  Eb.  Adamaib  ... 


alter- 


Dat©  of 
Accession. 
B.C. 

1022 

1013 

1001 

951 

952 

951 

929 

909 

903 

893 

892 

880 

871 

855 

843 

838 

831 

811 

805 

795 

784 

777 

747 

737 

730 

660 

653 

633 

593 

591 

541 

522 

505 

498 

480 

473 

462 

442 

417 


LIST   OF   THE    HIGH   KINGS   OF   ERIN  415 

Date  of 
Accession. 
B.C. 

69.  Er.  EOCHAIDH  AlLTLEATHAN             ...                  ...                  ...  413 

70.  Er.  Fearghus  FoRTAMHAiL           ...            ...            ...  395 

71.  Er.  Aekqhus  TuiRMHEAcn             ...             ...             ...  384 

72.  Er.  ConallCollambuach              ...             ...             ...  325 

73.  Eb.  Nia  Sedhamain       ...             ...            ...            ...  319 

74.  Er.  Enna  AiGiiNEAcn     ...             ...            ...             ..  312 

75.  Er.  Crimhthann  CosGRACH          ...             ...            ...  292 

76.  Ir.  Rudhraighe...         ...             ...             ...            ...  288 

77.  Eb.  Innatmar  ...            ...            ...            ...            ...  318 

78.  Ir.  Breasal  Boidhiobhadh           ...            ...            ...  209 

79.  Eb.  LuGHAiDH  Luaighne              ...            ...            ...  198 

80.  Ir.  Congal  Claroineach              ...             ...            ...  183 

81.  Eb.  Duach  Dalta  Deadhadh       ...            ...            ...  168 

82.  Ir.  Fachtna  Fathach  ...             ...  ...  ...  158 

83.  Er.  Eochaidh  Fbidhleach            ...  ...  ...  142 

84.  Er.  Eochaidh  AiREAMH                ...            ...            ...  130 

85.  Er.  Ederscel                 ...            ...            ...            ...  115 

86.  Er.  NuADHA  Neacht     ...            ...            ...            ...  no 

87.  Er.  Conaire  Mor          ...            ...  ...  ...  109 

88.  Er. LuGHiEDH  Sriabh-ndearg       ...            ...            ...  34 

89.  Er.  CoNCHOBHAB  Abhradhruadu...             ...            ...  8 

90.  Er.  Crimhthann  Niadhnaer.      Birth  of  Christ  in  the 

eighth  year  of  his  reign       ...  ...  ...  7 

A.D. 

91.  Cairbre  Cinncbat          ...            ...            ...            ...  10 

92.  Er.  FeARADHACH  FlNNFEACHTNACH  ...  ...  15 

93.  Er.  Fiatach  Finn    ...     ...  ...  ...  37 

94.  Er.  FiACHA  FiNNFOLAIDH       ...  ...  ...  40 

•70.    i R.  xLLIM              •••                  •••                  •••  *••  •••  0( 

96.  Er.  Tuathal  Teachtmhar           ...  ...  ...  76 

97.  Ir.  Mal           ...            ...            ...  ...  ...  107 

98.  Er.  Feidhlimedh  Rechtmhar      ...  ...  ...  Ill 

99.  Er.  Cathaeir  MoR         ...             ...  ...  ...  120 

100.  Er.  Conn  OP  the  Hundred  Battles  ...  ...  123 

101.  Er.  Conaire,  son  of  Mogh-Lamha  ...  ...  ...  158 

102.  Er.  Art  Aenfir             ...             ...  ...  ...  166 

103.  Ith.  Lughaidh,  i.e.,  MacCon         ...  ...  ...  196 

104.  Er.  Fearghus  Daibhdeadach       ...  ...  ...  226 

105.  Er.  CoRMAC  MacArt      ...             ...  ...  ...  227 

106.  Er.  Eochaidh  Gonnat  ...           ...  .--  ...  267 


416  APPENDIX. 

Date  of 
Accession. 
A.D, 

107.  Er.  CaIRBRE  LiPPEACHAIR       ...  ...  ...  268 

108.  Ith.  FoTHAD  ...     ...     ...  ..  ...  285 

109.  Er.  FiACHA  Sraibhtixe  ...             .,.  ...  ...  286 

110.  Er.  CollaUais               ...             ..,  ...  ...  323 

111.  Er.  MUIREADHACH  TiREACH               ,.^  .     ...  ...  327 

112.  Ir.  Caelbhadii               ...             ...  ...  ,..  357 

113.  Er.  EoCHAIDII  MUIGHMHEADHOIX    ..  ...  ...  358 

114.  Eb.  Crimthann               ...             .»,  ...  ...  366 

115.  Er.  Niall  op  the  Nine  Hostages  ...  ...  379 

116.  Er.  Dathi        ...             ...             ...  ...  ...  405 

117.  Er.  Laeghairb               ...             ...  ...  ...  429 

118.  Er.  Olioll  Molt            ...             ...  ..,  ...  459 

119.  LuGfiAiDU  M.'^cLaeghaire             ...,  ...  ...  479 

THE  UI  NEILL  (Eremonian). 

120.  MUIRCHEARTACH   (EoGAn)                     ...  ...  ...  504 

121.  TuATHAL  Maelgarbh  (Cairbre)  ...  ...  ...  528 

122.  DiARMAiD  (Crimthann)  ...             ...  ...  ...  539 

123.  DoMHNALL  AND  Fearghus  (Eogan)  ...  ...  569 

124.  Eochaidh  (Eogan)  and  Baedoix    ...  ...  ...  562 

125.  AiNMiRE  (Conall)           ...             ...  ...  ...  564 

126.  Baedon  (Conall)            ..»             ...  ...  ...  567 

127.  Aedh  (Conall)               ...             ...  ...  ...  568 

128.  Aedh    Slaine    (Crimthann)    and     Colajan    Uimidh 

(Eogan)        ...             ...             ...  ...  ...  595 

129.  Aedh  Uairidhnach  (Eogan)        ...  ...  ...  601 

130.  Maelcobha  (Conall)      ...             ...  ...  ...  608 

131.  Suibhne  Meann  (Eogan)               ...  ...  ...  611 

132.  Domhnall  (Conall)       ...             ...  ...  •••  624 

133.  Conall  Gael  and  Ceallach  (Conall)  ...  •••      .      ^40 

134.  Diarmaid  AND  Blathmao  (Crimthann)  ...  ...  657 

135.  Seachnasach  (Crimthann)           ...  ...  ...  665 

136.  Ceannfaeladh  (Crimthann)         ...  ...  ...  670 

137.  Finnachta  Fleadach (Crimthann)  ...  ...  674 

138.  LoiNGSEACH  (Crimthann)              ...  ..  ...  694 

139.  CoNGAL  (Conall)            ...             ••-  •••  ••        ,   702 

140.  Feargiial  (Eogan)          ..             ..•  •••  ••-  709 

141.  Fogartach  (Crimthann)                ...  -•  •••  719 

142.  CiNAETH  (Crimthann)     ...             ...  ...  ••.  720 

Note.— Crimthann   and    Cairbre    represent   the  Southern    Ui  Neill  Eogan, 

and  Coaall  the  Northern  Ui  Neill. 


LIST   OF   THE    HIGH    KINGS    OF    ERIN.  417 

Date  or 
Accession. 
AD. 

143.  Flaithbhrartach  (Conall)          ..,             ...  ...  723 

144.  Aedh  Allan  (Eogan)    ...             ..^             ...  ...  730 

145.  Do-MHNALL  (1st  OF  Clan  Colkman)  (Crimthann)  ...  739 

146.  NiALL  Frosach  (Eogaik)                ...             ...  ...  759 

147.  Donnchadh  (Crimthann)              ..              ...  ...  766 

148.  Aedh  OiRDNiDHE  (Eogan)             ...             ...  ...  793 

149.  CoNCHOBAK  (Crimthann)               ..,             .».  ...  798 

150.  NiALL  Caille  (Eogan)  ..              ...             .»  ...  818 

151.  Maelseachlainn  I.  Crimthann)  ...             ...  .*.  845 

152.  Aedh  Finnliath  (Eogan)              ...             ...  .^  861 

153.  Flann  Sinna  (Crimthann)            ...             ..>  ,»  877 

154.  NiALL  Glundubh  (Eogan)             ...             ...  ^.  916 

155.  Donnchadh  (Crimthann)              ...             ...  ...  918 

156.  Conghalach  (Crimthann)             ...             ...  ...  943 

157.  Domhnall  (Eog-»n)        ...             ...             ...  ...  955 

158.  Maelseachlainn  II.  (Crimthann)                ...  ...  979 

159.  Brian  Boru  (Eber)  'i     ■  .            ...            -..  ..  1002 


ADDENDA. 

Thisrouannb. — There  was  a  very  old  inscription,  m  the 
Cathedral  of  Durham.  It  ran  as  follows  : — "  Sanctus  Andomaru* 
monachus  episcopus."  Tavernenses. — St.  Omer,  Monk  Bishop 
of  Tavema,  i.e.,  Therouanne.  St.  Omer  was  a  monk  from 
Liixeuil,  and  Bishop  of  Therouanne,  about  A.D.  637.  See  Rites 
of  Durham,  Ed.  Canon  Forster,  1903,  p.  130,  and  supra  p.  150. 

Round  Towers. — Gregorovius  writes  in  his  Tagebiicher  [Eng. 
trans.  1907,  p.  140],  from  Genazzano  (13  M.  S.  E.  Tivoli),  August 
13th,  1861: — "Explored  the  mountains  as  far  as  Mentorella. 
The  little  rock  crests  of  Rocca  di  Cova  and  Capronica  are  verj 
striking.  Each  has  a  ruined  fortress,  a  solitary  round  tower 
surrounded  by  a  wall.  When  its  defenders  could  hold  out  no 
longer,  they  retired  into  the  tower,  which  has  no  doors.  Tha 
priucdpal  window  was  entered  by  means  of  a  ladder." 


INDEX 

Adamnan 

account  of  tlie  exculpation  of  Uolumba  at  the  Synod  of  Tailtiu.  200. 
Failbiie  tells  hiui  he  was  present  when  Oswald  related  how  Coluuiba 
appeared  to  him  before  the  battle  of  Heaveniield,  355, 

Adrian  IV. 

grants    Ireland    to   Henry    II.    at   the    solicitation   o£    John    of 

Salisbury,  385. 
grant  not  Laudabiliter  ;  form  of  suggested,  385 
motive   of  grant  to  be  sought  in  the    Weltpolitik  of  the   Roman 

Curia,  386 
text  of  Laudabiliter  from  the  "  Book  of  Leinster,"  and  a  translation 

of  it,  393 
an  examination  and  criticism  of  the  text,  405 
subsequent  facts  referring  to,  and  confirmatory  of,  the  donation, 

408 

AITHEACH  TUATHA 

not  the  Attacotti,  96 
AGRICOLA 

description  of  Erin  of  the  Gael  in,  37 
AID  AN 

his  mission  and  preaching,  356 

"  his  course  of  life  difFei'ent  from  the  slothfulness  of  our  time.'' 

ALEXANDER  III. 

his   letter  confirmatory,  and  three  letters   in  the  Liber  Scacarii, 
399,  406 

AMBER 

found  in  the  North  Sea,  32 

AMMIANUS  MARCELLINU3 

describes  the  invasion  of  Britain  by  the  Picts,  Attacotti;  and  the 

Scots,  117 
quoted,  111,  113,  131,  139 

Angueli  Liber 

defines  the  boundaries  of  the  See  of  Armagh     Entrj'  as  to  Brian 
Boru  refers  to,  176 

ARBOIS  DE  JUBAINVILLE 

on  the  "  Nasad  "  of  Lug  at  Lyons,  5 
View  as  to  the  Battle  of  Moytura,  26 
visits  and  describesEmmania,  58 


420  INDEX. 

ARLETTA 

mother  of  William  the  Conqueror,  probably  an  Ethnic  Celt  ,113 

ARDRIGH 

liist  of  Higli  Kings,  413 

how  chosen  and  mode  of  election,  224 

Table  showing  they  were  selected  by  the  tribe  within  the  royal 

stock,  245. 
Go  Freshahhraidh  (with  gainsaj-ing),  246 
history  of,  after  the  death  of  Maelseachlainn  II.  (1022)  388 

Armagh,  Book  of 

description  of,  170 

ARCHICLOCOS,  Bury's  view  not  accepted,  176 
ARTHUR,  the  name  Gaelic,  16 

buried  at  Glastonbury,  the  finding  of  his  remains,  the  enormous 
size  of  his  bones,  129 

ATTACOTTI 

the  "  Tuatha  Cat "   of   Scotland,   referred    to   by   St  Jerome   in  a 
famous  passage,  6 

AUSONIUS 

describes  his  villula,  135 

Avienus 

account  of  Hamilco's  expedition,  35 
Augustine,  St. 

Missionary  labours  in  England,  353 
estimate  of  Pelagius,  154 

Bards  (see  Druids,)  205 

their  "pot  of  covetousness."  Found   an  advocate  in  Columba  at 
Drumceat,  262 
Bede 

description  of  Erin,  1 

describes  how  the  Columban  monks  kept  Easter,  357 

how   they    were   expelled   from    Ripon    and    the    place   given   to 

Wilfrid,  370 
his  letter  (724)  to  Egbert,  Archbishop  of  York — a  dark  picture  of 

spiritual  decadence. 

Bernard,  St. 

writes     to     Archbishop     Theobald,     formerly     Abbot     of     Bee, 
recommending  John  of  Salisbury  for  immmediate  promotion,   282 

BORLASE 

Dolmens,  description  of,  9 
views  as  to  Battle  of  Moytura,  24 

BORUMA 

Legend  of  the  imposition  of,  9 1 
on  Alba,  rejected  at  Drvimceat,  263 


INDEX.  421 

BREHON  LAW 

Not  written  but  transmitted  orally,  212 

The  contents  of  the  Brehon  Law  Tracts,  213 

Provisions  regarding  education,  215 

Judgment  as  to  eric  in  the  case  of  St.  Patrick's  charioteer,  217 

The  contents  of  the  Senchus  Mor  as  to  tithes,  etc.,  219 

BRIAN  BORU 

Brian  and  his  brother  Mahon  retire  before  the  Norsemen  into  the 

fastnesses  of  North  Clare  and  South  Gal  way,  293 
The   battle   of  Sulchoit   (908)    in    which    the    Norsemen    were 

routed,  294 
King  of  Munster  on  the  death  of  Mahon,  (976),  298 
Peace  of   Pulloige,   (999)   between  him  and  Maelseachlainn,  and 

battle  of  Glenmama  near  Dunlavin,  298 
Brian  marries,  first,  the  granddaughter  of  Clereach  ex    quo    the 

the  Ui  Clerigh ;   second  Dubhcobhtaigh,   daughter    of    Cathal 

O'Conor,  King  of  Connact ;  the  story  of  his  marriage,  thirdly, 

with  Gormlaith,    I'ojected,  299 
his  struggle  to  subdue  the  North,  and  circuit  through  it,  303 
his  title  to  be  Ard  Righ  not  admitted  by  the  North.    They  did  not 

obey  his  summons  to  Clontarf,  304 
The  Battle  of  Clontarf  in  which  Brian  fell  in   "  the  counterblow  " 

of  the  figlit,  305,  306,  307 
his  burial  at  Armagh,  and  an  estimate  of  his  character,  308 

Brian 

the  eldest  son  of    Eocaidh    Muigmeadhon,    ancestor    of    the    Ui 
Briain  of  Connact,  109 

BOADICCEA  OR  BOUDICCA 

Semble,  the  same  as  the  gaelic  boadach  or  huadach,  victorious,  des- 
cribed and  compared  with  Meve,  43 

Bridget,  St. 

Fire  of  at  Ealdare — described  by  Giraldus,  195,  197 
BRIGANTES 

between  the  Humber  and^  the  Clyde  and  in  the  South  East  of 

Erin,  43 
should  probably  be  substituted  for  Gigantes,  137 

BURGUNDY 

geography  of,  complex,  148 

CAMDEN 

Displacement  of  the  Gaelic  Monks  from  Glastonburv  by  Dunstan, 
126 

Cairbre  Cinnceat 

rising  of  the  Fir-Voice,  91 
CARINNA 

mother  of  Niall  of  the  Nine  Hostages,  a  Saxon,  110 


422  INDEX. 

CASSIAN 

his  life  and  labours,  145 

builds  the  monastery  of  St.  Victor  at  Marseilles,  410  (c) 
Bull  of  Benedict  IX.  on  its  re-dedication,  145 
Monastic  system  described  by  Ruffi,  146 

CATHRAIGE 

the   Tuatha   Cat  found  from   Caithness  to  Inis    Cathraige,    now 
Scattery  Island,  4,  5 

CEARBHALL 

of  Ossory,  probably  King  of  the  Norsemen  of  Dublin  from  872  to 

888,  277 
referred  to  in  the  Land-nama-hoc,  278 

CELTS 

an  intrusive  wedge  in  the  centre  of  France — language  of,  Semble, 

spread  to  tribes  north  and  south  of  them,  4 
supposed  to  have   brought   the  custom  of  incineration  from  the 

East,  8 
in  forefront  of  civilization  during  the  Hallstadt  period,  50 
took  possession  of  the  valleys  of  the  Po,  the  Danube,  the  Loire, 

the  Marne,  and  the  Seine ;  never  came  to  Erin,  51 
characteristics  of  the  Celtic  or  Alpine  stock,  421 

CHURCH,  EARLY 

organisation  of,  314 

The  congahala  (habitations)  consisted  of  (1)  a  church,  teach   mor, 

(2)  cuile,  room  and  kitchen  in  one,  and  (3)  an  aregal  or  embyro 

round  tower,  or  "  fire-house,"  315 
the  teach  na  teinidh  in  Inrdsmurray,  315 
the  round  towers,  316,  417 
the  pastoral   work  of  the   Congahala  not  done  from  the  monastic 

centres,  316 
the  dioceses,  territorial  not  tribal,  317 
amounted  to  about   50,  and   were  reduced    to    26  at    the    Synod 

of  Rathbrasail.     The  catalogue  of  the  Saints,  text  and  trans- 
lation, 320,  322. 
some  observations  on  the  catalogue,  324 
the  question  of  the  non-canonization  of  the  Irish  Saints  considered, 

325 
the  Bollandist  view  as  to   "  canonizing  in  groups  "  should  be  re- 

consid'^red,  314 
the  Irish  always  added,  "whose  names  were  written  in  Heaven,"  325 
the  Rev.  T.  Olden's  view  as  to  the   Consortia  Mulierum,  328 ;  the 

Church  obedient  to  Rome  not  only  in  docti-ine  but  in  discipline, 

363 

CHRISTIANITY 

in  Erin,  before  St.  Patrick,  207 
CEVIBAETH,  AEDH  RUADH,  AND  DITHORBA 

reigns  of,  61 


INDEX.  423 

COLEMAN,  BISHOP 

collects  his  treasures,  i.e.,  the  bones  of  Aidan,  and  tramps  to  lona,  279 
COLLAS,  THE  THREE 

invade  Ulster,  burn  Emmania,  and   drive  the   Clanna   Rury  into 
Ulidia,  and  make  the  "  Danes  Cast." 

COLUMBA,  ST. 

not  the  cause  of  the  battle  of  Cuildreimhne  and  two  other  battles  258, 
the  correct  translation  of  ro  la  ind  eirhe  n  druadh  dara  cend  (note),  259 
exculpated  at  the  Synod  of  Tailten,  as  stated  by  Adamnan,  263 
acts  as  a  peacemaker  at  the  convention  of  Drumceat,  575,  262 
the  story  of  his  copying  of  the  Psalter  of  St.  Finnen  furtively,  and 

the  award  of  Diarmaid,  264 
he  sails  to  Alba  and  takes  possession  of  lona,  some  details,  349 
founds  twenty-one  "  houses  "  among  the  Picts  and  thirty-two  among 

the  Scots  of  Alba,  350 
he   appears  to  Oswald  before  the  battle  of  Heavenfield  and  bids 

him,   "Be  of  good  cheer  and  play  the  man,  you  shall  return 

victorious,"  355 

COLUMBANUS  +  615 

Letters  to  Gregory  and  Boniface ;  seeks  guidance  from  the  Pope  ( 1 ) 

on  the  Paschal  question ;    (2)   on  holding    communion    with 

(a)  Simoniacal  bishops ;  (6)  those  who  had  been  promoted  to 
'  be  bishops  after  violating  the  rule  as  to  celibacy  whilst  deacons, 

364 
the  bishops  intercept  his  letters,  and  accuse  him  of  keeping  Easter 

with  the  Jews,  365 
enumeration  of  Columban  foundations  from  Luxeuil,  365 
"  Columbanus  sowed  ;  Benedict  reaped,"  366 
The  Cofidoviinium  established  in  Columban  houses,  366 

COLUMBAN  MONKS 

the  teaching  of  the  nations  by,  345 

what  Columba  and  his  disciples  at  lona  were  like,  their  founda- 
tions in  Scotland,  349 
their  labours  in  Germany,  summarised  by  a  German  priest,  350 
the  evangelization  of  England  mainly  due  to  them,  353 

CONN  OF  THE  HUNDRED  BATTLES 

defeats  Cathaoir  Mor,  123,  A.D.,  93 
table  of  his  descendants,  95 

OONSTANTINE 

Donation  of  a  forgery,  380 

the  famoxxs  "  island  clause  "  textually,  381 

CORMAC  MAC  ART 

his  "  teaching  of  a  king,"  98 

CORMAC  MAC  CUILLENAIN 

bishop  of  Cashel  and  king  of  Munster,  killed  at  the  battle  of  Belack 
Mughna,  near  Carlow  (908),  282 


424  INDEX. 

COROTICUS 

epistle  to,  not  genuine,  excluded  by  the  Early  Church,  166,  170 
CRIMTHANN 

statement  that  he  was  poisoned  by   his   sister,    Mong  Finn,   dis- 
cussed, 114 
foreign  conquests  of,  119 

CRIMTHANN  NIA  NAIR 

his  poem,  98 
CROM  CRUAICH  or  CROM  DUBH 

idol  of  at  Magh  Slecht,  29 

like  the  idol  of  Moloch  at  Carthage,  31 
CUCHULAINN 

derivation  of  name  (note),  73 

CUELLAR 

extract  from  letter  to  Philip  II.  of  Spain  (Ocfc.,  4,  1589)  describing 
habits  and  mode  of  life  of  the  Irish,  344 

DA  DERGA 

hostel  of,  and  the  tog  ail  or  destruction  of,  the  subject  of  a  spirited 
poem,  "  Conary,"  by  Ferguson,  87 

DATHI 

succeeds  Niall,  and  marches  to  the  Alps  (Cevennes)  to  avenge  his 
death,  117 

DAVIS,  SIR  J. . 

disposed  at  first  to  make  freeholders,  230 

letter  to  Salisbury,  describing  the  state  of  Fermanagh,  1616,  232 

O'Brislan's  Koll  of  duties  due  to  Maguire,  234 

obtains  resolution  of  judges  erroneously,  describing  the  Irish  tenure 
as  Gavelkind,  237 

Chichester's  Proclamation  of  Amnesty,  1604,  231 

Gavelkind     unknown  in  Ireland  until  the  Penal  Laws,  236 

Tanistry,  case  of  considered,  238 

letter  to  Salisbury,  Nov.,  11,  1606,  "  the  Chief  Justice  and  I  now 
find  the  occupiers  are  freeholders,"  239 

his  overtures  that  these  inferior  freeholds  are  vested  in  the  Crown, 
and  that  informations  of  intrusion  should  be  preferred,  240 

letter  to  Salisbury,  Sept.,  24,  1610,  231 

"  I  held  the  occupiers  were  not  freeholders,  but  had  only  a  scramb- 
ling or  transitory  possession,"  244 

policv  of  confiscation  substituted  for  that  of  making  freeholders, 
241 

large  grants  of  confiscated  lands  to  Chichester  and  Davis,  243 

massacre  of  1641,  the  outcome  of  his  chicanery,  243 

DEARBHFORGAIL 

44  years  of  age  in  1152,  the  year  of  the  supposed  elopement,  312 

the  evidence  as  to  sifted,  313 

died  near  Mellifont  in  her  85th  year  (1193),  313 


INDEX.  425 

DED ANNAN 

Tuatha  Dedanuan,  not  mythological  beings,  27 

DEIRDRE 

sorrowful  tale  of,  66 
her  farewell  to  Alba,  68 

DESJARDINS,  M. 

gives  the  variants  of  Taruanna,  150 

DIODORUS  SICULUS 

quotation  from,  describing  the  idol  worship  of  Moloch  at  Carthage,  31 

DOLMENS 

building  of  in  Erin  and  abroad,  7,  8 
distribution  of,  and  Borlase's  view,  10 

Dowden,  J.,  Bishop, 

his  view  as  to  the  form  of  the  Gaelic  tonsure,  sustained,  209 

DRUIDS 

word  connected  with  dm,  a  tree,  200 

magic  trees  in  Erin,  the  mountain  ash,  the  hazel,  the  yew,  and  the 

blackthorn,  200 
draoidheact  meant  wizardry ;  the  Gaelic  druids  wizards  not  priests 
references  to  by  Cicero,  Timagenes  and  Ammianus,  201 
Caesar's  account ;  what  he  says  of  the  German  true  of  the  Gael,  203 
no  human  sacrifices  in  Erin  as  in  Gaul,  203 
no  evidence  that  Druidism  passed  from  Britain  to  Gaul,  203 

DUNLANG 

the  massacre  of  the  maidens  at  Tara,  92 

EASTER 

some  necessary  details  about  the  Paschal  controvers}^,  358 

Easter  day  defined,  360 

the  method  of  computing  Easter  explained  (note),  360 

the  celebration  of  Easter  on  the  14th  moon,  being  Sunday,  instead 

of  waiting  until  the  following  Sunday  was  the  Gaelic  use,  360 
The  only  difference  that  could  arise  from  this  was  that  the  Gaelic 

Easter  might  be  the  Roman  Palm  Sunday  once  or  twice  in  a 

century,  361 
charged  with  keeping  Easter  with  the  Jews,  i.e,  the  Quartodeciman 

heresy,  361-2 

EARLS,  THE 

causes  of  the  flight  of,  243 

10,000  pounds  reward  to  the  man  who  should  kill  the  Earl  of 
Tyrone  and  escape,  241 

"Services  of  this  kind  {i.e.,  assassination)  imto  princes  were 
commonly  most  obligatory  when  done  without  their  know- 
ledge."    Sir  H.  Wotton,  Ambassador  at  Venice,  243 


426  INDEX. 

ELOI,  ST.  (EUgius)  588-659,  A.D. 

founds    Solignac  in'' the   suburbium  of  Limoges — way   of   life   at 

Luxeuil  to  be  followed.    Rules  of  Columba  and  Benedict  to  be 

observed,  187 
enumeration  of  heathenish  practices  like  those  in  Erin,  188 

ERIN-ERIU 

derivation  of  the  name,  1 

political  divisions  of,  at  yarious  times,  generally  fivefold,  62 

description  of  by  Bede  and  others 

situated  between  Britain  and  Spain  (Tacitus)  36 

Paleololithic  man  did  not  come  to,  2 

Neolithic  inhabitants  of  came  from  Southern  France,  and    built 

the  Dolmens,  3 
The  ethnic  Celts  of  Central  France  never  came  to ;  legends  as  to 

first  four  "  occupations  "  (Gabala)  of,  14-38 
The  fifth  occupation  was  by  the  Gael,  4-39 
Chronology    of  our  texts   and   of  Sacred  Annals   (popular  view) 

tables  of,  20 
At  the  coming  of  St.   Patrick   the  formation  of   a   strong  central 

government  seemed  probable,  246 
the  population  then  conjectured  to  be  850,000,  246 

EUROPEAN 

Racial  Table,  21-44 

FERDOMNACH 

the  "Book  of  Armagh"  in  his  handwriting,  170 

FIACC'S  HYMN 

Statement  as  to  birth  place  of  St.  Patrick,  149 

Fiachra 

second  son  of  Eocaid  Muighmheadon,  ancestor  of  the  Ui  Briain  of 
Connact,  109 

FINN  MAC  CUMHAIL 

the  story  of  his  parentage,  99 
his  marriage  with  Graine,  100 
the  Fianna  of  Erin,  101 

FIRBIS,  MAC 

his  observations  on  race  characteristics,  44 

FIRE,  THE  CELESTIAL 

Production  of — the  tene  eigen,  i.e.,  fox'ced  fire  in  Erin,  191 
the  fire  of  St.  Bridget,  195 

Flann 

of  the  monastery,  his  synchronisms,  16 
Fodla  OUamh,  57 
Freppel,  C.  E.,  bishop  of  Angers ;  his  canons  of  sovmd  criticism,    143 


INDEX.  427 

GAEL 

the  coming  of,  39 

first  arrivals  of,  said  to  have  come  from  the  North  of  Spain,  49 

pedigrees  of,  traced  to  the  three  sons  of  Golamh  (the  soldier)  or  to 

his  nephew,  Ith,  41,  96 
how  placed  on  the  land  in  B.C.  750,  51 
not  ethnic  Celts,  but  belong   to    the  Nordic    race,  fulfil   all  the 

conditions  laid  down  by  Deniker,  44,  48 
Regnal  years  of  the  kings  of  the  four  lines,  52 
description  of  their  conquests  in  Wales,  etc,  117 
religion  of,  before  the  reception  of  the  Faith,  the  religion  of  the 

Celestial  Fire,  185 
European  racial  types,  42 
Cephalic  indexes  and  height,  etc,  47,  48 

Gall-Gael 

The  sea-divided  Gael  or  foreigners  resident  in  Erin,  272 

GAELIC  OATH 

oldest  forms  of,  189 

Gasquet,  Abbot 

describes  the  Columban  rule  as  one  of  great  severity,  and  inferior 
in  practical  sense  to  the  Benedictine,  187 

Germanus 

Bishop  of  Auxerre,  147 

and  Lupus,  mission  to  Wales  against  Pelagians,  156 

Glastonbury  of  the  Gael, 

position  of  described,  123 

name  derived  from  Gaelic  "  inis  glais  duinn^^ — island  of  the  browa 

river,  122 
The  vetusta  ecdesia  there  a  Church  of  St.  Patrick,  and  so  described  in 

the  Charters  of  Ina  and  Baldrid,  124 
an    island    called  Little   Erin  (Beg   Eriu)   with  a    chapel  of  St. 

Bridget  on  it  there,  125 
Columban    monks   there    displaced    for   Benedictines — Camden's 

account  of,  126 
the  finding  of  Arthur's  remains  there,  enormous  size  of  his  bones,  121 

GUINEVERE 

the  wife  of  Arthur  (  1  Finnabhair),  finding  of  her  remains 
GOLL  MAC  MORN  A 

the  head  of  the  Firvolcic  Fianna  in  Connact,  102 
GRAVES,  BISHOP 

service,  in  fixing  the  date  of  the  "  Book  of  Armagh,"  171 

HALLSTADT 

the    capital  of  Celtic    civilization    during    the    Hallstadt    period, 
850-600  B.C.,  50 


428  INDEX. 

HALM 

amendment  of  passage  in  Agricola,  suggested  by,  37 

HAVERFIELD 

succinct  account  by,  in  Poole's  Historical  Atlas,  agrees  with  article 
in  Edinhiirgh  Review  as  to  the  duration  of  the  Roman  occupa- 
tion of  Southern  Scotland,  151 

HERICUS 

states  that  St.  Patrick  studied  under  Germanus.  1 48 

HOGAN,  E. 

the   Irish  wolf-dog,  139 

the  Irish  people,  their  height,  form,  and  strength,  47 

Honoratus,  St. 

founded  monastery  at  Lerins,  now  St.  Honorat,  410  A.D.,  became 
Metropolitan  of  Aries  and  died  428  A.D.,  147 

ITALIA 

meaning  of  an  official  language  after  Diocletian,  141 

JEROME,  ST. 

refers  to  Attacotti  in  a  famous  passage,  6 

describes  the  irruption  of  the  barbarians  into  Gaul,  in  406  A.D.,  131 

refers  to  Pelagius,  154 

JOCELYN 

a  French  Cistercian  from  Furness,  his  falsifications  of  tradition,  1 83 

LAOGHAIRE 

tells  St.  Patrick  that  Niall  did  not  permit  him  to  believe,  207 
his  conversion,  208 

LIA  FAIL 

the  stone  of  destiny,  252 

removed  from  Tara  to  Scotland,  and  now  in  Westminster  Abbey,  256 

MAGH  RATH  (Moira) 

battle  of  (637),  167 
MAGH  SLECHT 

worship  of  Crom  Cruaich,  a  Semitic  cult  there,  29 

MAELSEACHLAINN  II.  +  1022,  defeats  Norsemen  at  Tara,  (980),  296 

proclamation  of  the  famous  rising,  296 

his  doings  for  the  first  14  years  of  his  reign,  applies  in  vain  to  the 

ISTorthern    Ui  Neil   to   assist   him  against    Brian,    and   then 

submits,  301 
not  guilty  of  treachery  at  Clontarf,  307 
resumes  Ardrighship  after  Clontarf,  310 
defeat  of  Norse  at,  had  no  political  result  of  immediate  importance, 

extracts  to  prove  this,  310 


INDEX.  429 

MATILDA,  Countess  of  Tuscany 

Second  Cartnla  of  donation  by  act  inter  vivos,  not  a  will,  made  at 

Canossa  in  1102,  384 
her  first  Cartnla  destroyed  during  scenes  of  anarchy  in  Rome  in 

11th  and  12th  centimes  (note),  384 

Medbh  (Meve) 

queen  of  Connact,  contemporary  with  Cleopatra  the  original,  semble, 

of  Spenser's  Queen  Mab,  64 
invasion  of  Ulster  by,  75 

MEYER,  KUNO 

his  translation  of  the  poems  on  Magh  Slecht,  95 

MONKS 

early  history  of  monasticism  and  dates  of  the  foundations  of  prin- 
cipal monasteries,  330 

testimony  of  Cassian  as  to  the  discipline  at  Tabenna,  333 

testimony  of  Sozomen,  a  lawyer,  that  it  was  the  monks  who  kept  the 
people  free  from  the  Arian  heresy,  334 

observations  on  monastic  rules,  requisites  of  an  adequate  and  com- 
prehensive rule,  334 

St.  Basil's  rule  unrivalled  for  richness,  variety  and  culture,  and  was 
used  by  St.  Columba,  335 

St.  Basil's  rule  compared  with  St.  Benedict's,  336 

the  Benedictine  use  as  to  the  dedication  of  boys  under  age  compared 
with  the  Gaelic  use  and  that  of  St.  Basil,  338 

legal  difficulties  in  the  way  of  an  open  profession  of  a  vow  of  casitas, 
and  the  subjection  of  the  monasteries  to  central  control,  339 

the  imperial  government  made  regulations  concerning  the  monas- 
teries, 340 

the  "  use  of  Lerins  "  in  the  rule  of  CEesarius  brought  to  Erin,  341 

the  ascetical  writings  of  Columbanus,  342 

the  rule  as  to  food  prescribing  only  one  meal  at  sundown  the  snme 
as  the  usage  in  secular  life,  343 

the  "  use  "  as  regards  food  at  lona  according  to  Adamnan,  344 

MORINI—"  furthest  of  men,"  132 
history  of,  by  Malbrancq,  157 

MUIGHMHEADON,  EOCAID  (Mweevaeon), 

king  of  Connact  and  afterwai'ds  Ardrigh,  109 
married  Mong  Finn,  sixth  in  descent  from  Olioll  Olum,  109 
died  at  Tara"  and  was  succeeded  by  Mong  Finn's  brother,  Crim- 
thann,  113 

MUIR  N'ICHT 

Meaning  of  "  icht "  :  meant  the  supposed  channel  between  Erin 
and  France,  119 

MUIRCHERTACH  of  the  Leather  Cloaks 

his  circuit  of  Erin,  described  by  Cormacan  Eigeas  (  +  948),  284 
slain  in  a  battle  near  Ardee,  (948),  286 


430  INDEX. 

MUIRCU 

wrote  his  selections  under  the  direction  of  Aedh,  bishop  of  Sletty, 

173 
the  author's,  and  Todd's  and  Barry's,  translations  of  his  Preface,  174 
his  story  of  the  saint  carrying  the  fawn,  183 

Northmen 

invasion  of  divisible  into  two  periods,  268 

details  as  to  first  period,  (795-845,)  269,  273 

story  as  to  the  sovereignty  of  Turgesius,  unsupported  by  evidence, 

271 
details  as  to  second  period,  (845-1014,)  273 
Dubhgall  cannot  mean  people  of  the  dark  type,  273 
nature  and  extent  of  their  occupation,  274 
Ardrigh,  during  time  of,  exercised  his  sovereign  rights  as  usual,  275 

NIALL  GLUNDUBH 

led  the  Northern  and  Southern  Ui  Neil  to  the  aid  of  the  men  of 
Jjeinster  and  Munster,  but  was  defeated  at  the  battle  of 
Kilmashogue,  near  Rathfarnham  (917),  by  the  Northmen,  282 

NIALL  OF  THE  NINE  HOSTAGES, 

the  fifth  son  of  Eocaid  Muighmheadon  and  Carinna,  a  Saxon,  born 

out  of  wedlock,  110 
description  of,  45 

became  Ardrigh,  with  the  assent  of  his  half-brothers,  115 
the  slaying  of  Niall  in  France,  116 

NOINDEN  ULAD 

the  meaning  of,  77 

NORTHMEN 

the  most  serious  part  of  the  raidings  by,  was  the  taking  of  captives, 
289 

learning  and  literature  flourish  during  the  9th  and  10th  centuries. 
289 

their  position  in  the  latter  half  of  the  10th  century,   290 

bardic  account  of  in  the  "War  of  the  Gael  with  the  Gaill,"  con- 
sidered, 292 

O'HANLON,  CANON 

places  Magh  Slecht  near  Feenagh,  in  Leitrim,  29 

O'SULLIVAN,  PHILIP 

says  voyage  from  Kinsale  to  France  took  scarcely  more  than  two 
days,   and  to  Spain  three  days,  139 

OISIN 

commands  the  Clanna  Baoisgne  at  the  battle  of  Gabhra,  near  the 
Hill  of  Skreen  (284  a.d.),  Caoilte  and  he  said  to  have  been  the 
sole  survivors  on  his  side,  106 


INDEX.  431 

OTWAY,  CiESAR 

describes  how  a  storm  drove  great  waves  over  Tory  Island,  17 

PALLADIUS 

the  first  bishop  sent  to  the  Gael,  Patrick  the  first  bishop  sent  for 
them,  156 

PATRICIAN  DOCUMENTS 

in  the  "  Book  of  Armagh,'"   what  they  are,  173 
the  collections  in  the  "  Book  of  Armagh  "  to  be  preferred  to  those 
of  a  later  date,  181 

PATRICK,  St. 

the  coming  of,  131 

Patrician  dates  of  birth,  death,  suggested  (note),   131 

(his  birthplace  was  in  a  rural  district  (vicus),  belonging  to  the  civitas 

of  Taruanna,  now  Therouannein  France). 
Taruanna,  derived  from  tor^  abhann  (pronounced  ouann),  the  fenced 

town  of  the   river  (Lys),  and  equates  with  Nem-thor  (note), 

133 
Teruenna,  Taverna,  Teruenta,  variants  of  Tabernia,  150,  417 
his  capture,  slavery  with  Milchu,   and  escape  to  Foclut — The  route 

taken  (note),  138 
his  journey  through  the  three  Gauls  into  the  province  and  the 

islands,  140 
makes  his  first  theological  studies    at   Lerins,   now    St.    Honorat, 

146-178 
Studies  next  under  St.  Germanus,  148 
his  call  to  be  the  apostle  of  Erin,  152 
his  sojourn  with  the  Britons,  153 
suggested  position  of  the  Britons, 
ordained  by  Pope  Celestine,  148 
Bury's  view  not  adopted  (note).  175 

was  the  unnamed  bishop  referred  to  by  Prosper  of  Acquitaine,  160 
AdlaHis  bishop  of  the  Morini,  Malbrancq's  history,  160 
why  the  Confession  does  not  refer  to  the  Roman  mission,  162 
the  saint's  account  of  his  labours  in  Ireland,  164 
Legends  and  traditions  respecting,  170 
The  Books  (Libri)  or  Epistles  of  the  saint,  166 
The  Epistle  to  Coroticus  not  genuine,  and  its  rejection  by  the  early 

Church,  168 
Bury's  view  that   it   was    omitted   from  the  "  Book  of  Armagh " 

because  the  Scribe  "  scamped  his  work  "  not  adopted,   (note) 

167 
died  on  the  17th  March,  493,  131,  165,  179, 
absurd  charge,  that  he  stole  several  relics  at  Rome,   and   that   he 

stole  them  with  the  connivance  of  the  Pope  considered,  181 
Zimmer's  imtrtithful    statement  that  the  saint  admitted  he  had 

committed  adultery  in  his  16th  year  exposed,  181 


432  INDEX 

PELAGIUS 

the  errors  of  his  followers,  154 

Semi  Pelagians,  155 

Some  views  of,  probably  reached  Erin,  211 

POLYBIUS 

quoted  for  old-old  saying.     "  Fortune  only  lends  her  favours  to 
Nations,"  128 

PHCENICIANS 

went  to  the   North  Sea  for  amber,  but  did  not  enter  the  Baltic 

Sea,  33 
took  tin  from  the  Cassiterides,  which  lay  to  the  north  of  Gallicia 

in  Spain,  33 
Hamilco,    the    Carthagenian,    sails     to     Erin  ;    account    of     by 

Avienus,  35 
from  them   Marianas    and    Ptolemy  derived  their    knowledge   of 

Erin,  36 

POTfflER,  E. 

gives  the  route  of  the  etlinic  Celts  from  the  East,  8 

PROSPER  OF  ACQUITAINE. 

quotation  from  "  De  Providential'  ascribed  to  him,  141 
from  his  chronicle,  154 

from  the  Coiitra  Gollatorem,  the  Bishop  therein  referred  to  was  St. 
Patrick,  161 

Red  Branch  Knights 

the  standard  of  a  yellow  lion  on  a  ground  of  green  satin,  267 

ROUND  TOWERS 

origin  of  from  firehouse  of  Pagans,  continued  in  the  aregal  of  St 
Patrick,  316,  417 

Rudraidh  the  Great 

ancestor  of  the  Clanna  Rury ,  6  8 
Salisbury,  John  of 

strong   letter  from  St.  Bernard,  recommending  him  for  immediate 

promotion,   to  Theobald,  Archbishop  of   Canterbury,  formerly 

Abbot  of  Bee,  382 
states    in   the    Metalogicus     "at    my    solicitation     he,    i.e.,    Pope 

Adrian  lY.,  Hibernia  to  Henrv  II.  granted"  382 
the  letter  of  investiture   then   mentioned  by  him  not  the  famous 

Laudalnliter,  285 

SOLDI,  M.  EMILE 

seeks  in  "  La  Langue  Sacree "   to   solve  the  mystery  of  the  cup 

markings,  7 
these  a  prayer  for  resurrection,  in  the  Cosmoglyphic  language,  1 2 

TACITUS 

text  of  relating  to  Hibernia  from  the  Toletan  MS.,  37 


INDEX.  433 

TAIN  BO  CUAILNGE 

meaning  of  the  words,  74 

analysis  of  legends   regarding,  74 

Senchan   Torpeist  assembled  the    bards   to    recover   text,  and    St. 

Kieran  wrote  it  down  from  the  lips  of  Fergus  MacRoy,  79 
the   fight   with  Ferdiad,  the  most   famous    episode   in   the    Tain, 

extracts  from,  it  in  translation,  80 

TARA 

suggested  derivation  of  the  word,  52 

position  of,  247 

desertion  of,  not  caused  by  the  curse  of  St.  Ruadhan,  265 

TIGHERNMAS 

reign  of  ;  dies  with  three-fourths  of  the  men  of  Erin  of  the  plague, 

at  Magh  Slecht,  55 
The  story  may  well  be  doubted,  56 

TIGHERNACH 

Annals  of ;  monumenta  inncerta  ;  meaning  of  :  not  uncertain   but 
unsettled,  59 

TIRECHAN 

the  text  a  piece  of  literary  joinery,  176 

TONSURE 

Gaelic  form  of,  209 

TRIBAL  CUSTOMS 

in  Wales  and  Erin,  220 
the  Four  Hearths,  221 
the  Eric  fine,  223 
the  Honour  Price  List,  225 
the  tribal  occupier  and  Sir  J.  Davis,  226 
occupation  compared  with  German,  227 
the  "  taking  of  stock,"  indicating  tenure,  229 
the  ownership  of  the  land  was  in  the  tribe,  229 
policy  of  Henrv  VIII.  to     "settle"    the    land   and  make  "  f  ree- 
•   holders,"  230 

Ua  Cannanain  Ruadhri 

slain  in  the  "  counterblow "  of  the  battle  of  Muine  Brocain,  in 
Meath,  in  which  he  defeated  the  foreigners,  with  the  loss  of 
6,000  (948),  286 

UI  CLERIGH 

The  chief  of  the  Four  Masters  gives  the  computations  of  the  Septua- 

gint,  20 
expulsion   of,  from    Donegal,  during   the  Ulster  confiscations,  and 

settlement  of  at  Foile  Clerigh  (Clery's  Rock)  on  the  borders 

of  Limerick  (note), 
two  of  the  kindred  on  the  Grand  Jury  who  found  true  bills  against 

the  Earls  (note).  111 


434  INDEX 

I 

WILFRID,  ST. 

his  birth  and  life,  by  Eddius,  367 
his  education  at  Lindisfarne,  367 
his  stay  at  Lyons.     Delphinus,  then  Archbishop  there,  offered  him 

his  niece  to  wife, 
returns  to  England  after  the  death  of  Delphinus,  367 
the  Paschal  Cycle  of  Dionysius  and  the  bogus  canon,  368 
expulsion  of  the  Columban  monks  from  Ripon,  369 
is  ordained  priest  by  Agilbert,  a  transitory  bishop,  against    the 

Canon  law,  363 
the  Synod  at  Whitby  (664)  got  up  by  Wilfrid's  zeal,  assisted  by 

Agilbert,  371 
the  accounts  given  by  Eddius,    a  contemporary  official  record  of  the 

Benedictine  Order,  adopted  as  trustworthy,  372 
the  strictures  of  Dr.  M'Carthy,  P.P.,  on  Wilfrid,  374 
after  the  Synod  goes  to  France   to  be  consecrated,   and  is  received 

with  triumphal  honours  by  the  French  bishops,  375 
baptism  by  compulsion,  and  the  story  of  the  boy  carried  off  from 

his  parents,  375 
Bishop  Chad  reordained  through  all  the  ecclesiastical  orders,  376 
rules  the  Diocese  of  Northumbria  from  668  to  678,  377 
Etheldreda,  the  wife  of  King  Egfrid,  receives  the  veil  from  Wilfrid, 

and  he  receives  from  her  lands  at  Hexham,  12  miles  long  and  6 

miles  broad,  377 
after  her  profession  as  a  religious,  Egfrid  marries   again  in  her  life- 
time, 377 
his  quarrel  with  Ermenburga,  Egfrid's  second  wife  ;  his  expulsion 

and  appeal  to  Rome,  which  was  in  the  main  successful,  378 
at   the  Synod   on  Widd  near   Ripon,  (705)  allowed  to  retain  the 

small   See  of   Hexham  and  the  Abbey  of  Ripon,  378 
his  distribution  by  will  of  his  gold  and  his   silver  and   his  precious 

stones,  378 
his  death  (700),  and  his  epitaph  which  refers  to  the  bogus  canon,  378 

VICTOR 

confused  with  Victorious,  the  Apostle  of  the  Marini,  153 

WILLIAM  THE  CONQUEROR 

without  denying  the  overlordship  of  the  Pope,  refuses  to  take  the 
feudal  oath  (fidelitatem),  386 

WINDISCH,  E. 

his  splendid  edition  of  the  Tain  referred  to  (note),  74 

ZIMMER 

his  omission  in  reference  to  the  name  Arthur  noticed  (note),  16 

his  extraordinary  statement  about  St.  Patrick,  181 

his  views  hasty  and  ill-considered  on  the  Pelagian  question,  211 


FEB  2  0  19W' 


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